Province requests update from Kamloops council on implementation of Braun report

KAMLOOPS — B.C.’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs has requested a report from Kamloops council on the work it has done to implement recommendations made by municipal adviser Henry Braun.

In a letter to council that was included in Tuesday’s (Jan. 14) regular meeting agenda, Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon says he wants a meeting early in 2025.

“I support the work of the [municipal adviser] and the recommendations made in his report,” Kahlon writes. “While I recognize that council has made some progress towards implementing the recommendations of the report, I also understand that governance challenges are continuing.”

Braun, the former mayor of Abbotsford, was appointed by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs in February 2024 after Kamloops council requested a municipal adviser in September 2023. It was hoped an adviser could help smooth over the working relationship between council and Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson.

Braun delivered his report to council in May 2024, just more than two months after attending his first Kamloops council meeting and a month before his contract with the ministry expired.

In total, Braun made 23 recommendations – 13 for council as a whole and 10 solely for Hamer-Jackson – and highlighted 16 main challenges. He stated the relationship between the mayor and council was not normal

“In my opinion, the mayor has shown inflexibility in acknowledging his part in the existing dysfunction within city hall. I have observed the mayor exhibiting a dismissive and condescending attitude toward constructive criticism or the suggestion of apologies, which exacerbates the strained staff relations,” Braun told council in May 2024.

Since the Braun report was released, council voted to

• dock Hamer-Jackson’s pay by 10 per cent
• remove him as official spokesperson for the city
• remove him from the Thompson Nicola Regional District Board of Directors and the Kamloops Airport Authority Society
• restrict the mayor from certain closed committee meetings due to his handling of confidential information
• move his mayoral office to the basement of City Hall in order to keep city staff safe.

However, conflict between the mayor and council continues. Hamer-Jackson announced in July 2024 that he would not step down as mayor despite a formal request from council’s committee of the whole.

Since then, Councillor Bill Sarai publicly apologized in council chambers in November 2024 for secretly recording a conversation between himself and Hamer-Jackson nearly two years prior, then lying about the recording.

One month later, Hamer-Jackson attempted to bring evidence from his defamation lawsuit against Councillor Katie Neustaeter in a regular meeting, causing an abrupt recess and several councillors leaving.

Council will discuss Kahlon’s letter during Tuesday’s meeting.