Kamloops City Council is hosting a special council meeting on Thursday to discuss the “unilaterally” suspension of the city’s acting chief administrative officer.
In a statement, deputy mayor Mike O’Reilly said city councillors and the city do not support the suspension of Byron McCorkell that was ordered by mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson earlier this week.
“In deciding to suspend acting CAO McCorkell summarily, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson acted unilaterally and without prior consultation with the rest of City Council,” the statement says.
“He provided no grounds or justification for his surprise suspension of the acting CAO and has provided no such explanation to date.”
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Although Hamer-Jackson has the ability to suspend an employee, city councillors hold the authority to overturn that decision.
The statement says city council members want to see CAO McCorkell returned to active duty immediately.
The meeting that has been scheduled for Thursday, Mar. 28 will consider the mayor’s actions and review his decision to suspend the CAO.
According to the statement, council would have acted sooner, however, that is the earlier meeting date that can be arranged in light of “requirements and timelines under the law.”
The statement goes on to say that, with the exception of mayor Hamer-Jackson, all city councillors continue to have the “utmost” confidence in McCorkell.
“He has worked loyally and diligently for the City for more than 25 years, serving the public energetically and enthusiastically and always putting the City’s best interests ahead of his own,” the statement says.
According to the statement, Hamer-Jackson is alleged to have discussed personal information about McCorkell in a breach of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
O’Reilly says the matter has since been reported to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.
The meeting on Thursday is closed to the public because the matter surrounds “labour relations or other employee relations” but begins at 3 pm.
