Kamloops city council has instructed the city to reduce the mayor’s pay 15 per cent after an independent investigator hired by the city found he had leaked confidential documents.
According to a news release posted to the city’s website, the investigator said Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson’s behaviour was “a substantial departure from the standard to be expected of a mayor.”
CBC has not reviewed the report.
In an interview with CBC News, councillor and Deputy Mayor Mike O’Reilly said that while it’s alarming that private information was leaked, what’s perhaps more concerning is that the report’s author says Hamer-Jackson might do it again, according to the city.
Now, council has imposed sanctions against the mayor, including a 15 per cent pay cut for the next year — on top of a 10 per cent pay cut he received in June. Council is also imposing limitations to what confidential information the mayor has access to and is requesting he make a formal apology.
“There are measures that the mayor can take to have these sanctions removed and lifted, and he is aware of that,” O’Reilly said, adding that the mayor was given that information last week.
This comes after city council had already taken a number of steps against the mayor, including stripping him of his duties as a city spokesperson, removing him from the Thompson Nicola Regional District board and Shuswap Watershed Council and relocating his office to the basement of city hall.
Speaking with CBC’s Marcella Bernardo on Monday afternoon, Hamer-Jackson said he had not yet heard of what the sanctions were.
However, he said the pay cut is significant.
“It matters, especially when [the councillors] didn’t elect me. The citizens elected me over other people who were running to be the mayor.”
He said he’s not going to be signing a letter apologizing for his actions because, as far as he’s concerned, he hasn’t done anything wrong.
“It’s not going to happen,” he said.