Kamloops mayor threatens senior city official with suspension during council meeting

Kamloops mayor threatens senior city official with suspension during council meeting Mayor threatens suspension Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson publicly threatened a senior city official with suspension during a council meeting on Tuesday. Near the end...

Kamloops mayor threatens senior city official with suspension during council meeting Mayor threatens suspension Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson publicly threatened a senior city official with suspension during a council meeting on Tuesday. Near the end of the meeting, Hamer-Jackson told Maria Mazzotta, the city’s corporate officer, that he was not happy about his microphone being cut in previous meetings. His microphone has been cut when he has publicly discussed information city staff considered confidential or otherwise inappropriate for an open meeting.

Elected officials like the mayor are required to abide by strict confidentiality and privacy rules. Hamer-Jackson accused Mazzotta of “yelling at the IT department to shut my microphone off.” “I don’t want it to happen anymore.

I don’t know if you know, but the mayor can suspend any municipal officer or employee,” he said, beginning to cite the Community Charter before being interrupted by Coun. Katie Neustaeter. “Are you threatening our employees?"

she asked. "Are you really threatening our employees, that you will employ what you have in the past?” In 2024, Hamer-Jackson unilaterally suspended Byron McCorkell, who was then the city’s acting CAO — a decision quickly reversed by council.

The mayor told Neustaeter he thought she was “out of order," demanding to know if she was the one that approved the practice of shutting off his microphone, despite acknowledging previously that it was a staff decision. Referencing a recent meeting when his mic was cut, Hamer-Jackson said he was trying to ask councillors to hand over the statements they provided as part of a workplace probe into bullying and harassment on the part of the mayor. That workplace investigation is treated as confidential by the City of Kamloops, and when Hamer-Jackson mentioned it, Mazzotta asked IT staff to cut his mic.

Council members got up from their seats and the meeting was abruptly ended. 'Don't waste my time' Castanet Kamloops called Hamer-Jackson to ask about his statements, but he did not answer, saying via text he was too busy. When asked via text why he threatened Mazzotta with suspension, he replied, “Guess [we] will have to amend the Community Charter.”

The Community Charter gives power to a mayor to suspend a municipal employee, a decision that must go to council for a vote. When pressed for more answers, the mayor said, “Please don’t waste my time.” “Do some investigative journalism and read the Community Charter,” he said, adding he doesn’t think anyone should be concerned.

'I heard a bully' Coun. Dale Bass, deputy mayor for July, said Hamer-Jackson’s behaviour was “appalling.” “I heard a bully threatening a woman who was doing her job,” she said.

She noted it is not the first time he has “attacked” the corporate officer in the course of her duties. Hamer-Jackson has confronted Mazzotta on a number of occasions, particularly when she has brought up conflict of interest rules. Bass said part of the corporate officer’s job is to protect the city, and that involves notifying council members when they publicly break confidence.

She said Hamer-Jackson has broken privacy and confidentiality in the past, and he doesn’t stop speaking when he is cautioned to take care with what he is saying. "The best way to do it then is to at least cut his mic. That stops it from going out into YouTube and out into whoever else is Zooming in on the meeting and just leaves it with whoever happens to be in the room,” Bass said.

In an email, Mazzotta confirmed that she has been authorized by administration to ask for his microphone to be cut when he is speaking publicly about content that is deemed confidential under the Community Charter, protected under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, or subject to solicitor-client privilege. She said she hopes it isn’t necessary for her to cut the mayor's mic again in the future. Not the first time?

Hamer-Jackson has been the subject of a number of special measures, restrictions and council orders due to his alleged behaviour against city employees. Hamer-Jackson is unable to suspend certain city staff members after he suddenly suspended McCorkell. A 2023 workplace investigation found that Hamer-Jackson repeatedly used his office to threaten the job of the city’s former CAO, David Trawin.

A second independent investigation found he bullied and harassed a city employee on a dozen separate occasions in 2024, according to a code of conduct report. The mayor’s office was moved to the basement of city hall in an attempt to protect staff from bullying and harassment. A code of conduct investigation last year determined Hamer-Jackson bullied and intimidated city employees following a privacy breach.

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