The chaos at Kamloops council continues as mayor's pursuit of forensic financial audit fails
CBC
The divide at Kamloops city council appears to be wider than ever following the recent defeat of a controversial motion put forward by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to conduct a forensic audit of all city departments and management practices.
Several tense exchanges erupted as the mayor tried to convince at least four of the eight other members of council to support his wish to hire a third-party investigator.
Hamer-Jackson has sparred with the rest of council since the fall of 2022, when they were all elected, repeatedly complaining about property taxes being too high and the need to find savings.
Early in the debate last week, the mayor accused Coun. Mike O'Reilly of violating conflict of interest rules involving the purchase of land from the city by Comet Industries in 2020, when O'Reilly was two years into his first term on council.
He's the president and CEO of that real estate holding and development company.
O'Reilly fired back, saying he always recuses himself from any discussions involving his private interests.
"Mr. Mayor, you can't speak about me in my professional role with Comet Industries," said O'Reilly. "I completely removed myself from any conversations with the City of Kamloops. We pay people a significant amount of money to act on behalf of Comet. It almost seems like you're trying to get me in a conflict."
Replied the mayor: "I had citizens asking me how Comet Industries buys a piece of property for $35,820, appraised for $90,000? I still can't explain it to those citizens. This is not a witch hunt. This is a forensic audit to do the same type of thing the TNRD did."
Hamer-Jackson was referring to a 2021 investigation which found several examples of waste at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
City administrators have confirmed the land sale mentioned by the mayor involving Comet Industries was fair value. The transaction involved the purchase of less than half an acre rather than the full acre assessed price quoted by Hamer-Jackson.
Hamer-Jackson also sparred with Coun. Katie Neustaeter, who asked him to focus on the motion instead of raising topics not allowed to be discussed in open meetings.
"Are you just gonna continue attacking, or can we debate your motion?" she asked.
Hamer-Jackson accused her of violating discussion guidelines.
"You're out of order. I'm gonna ask the CAO to ask you to leave."
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