iN NUMBERS: Ministry gets ‘progress report’ on Kamloops mayor, state of council

It’s been a long two-and-a-half years at Kamloops city hall.

Since the last election, the list of controversies continues to grow and almost all of them involve mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson.

Amid the seemingly irreparable rift between the mayor and councillors, city hall recently teased out some details from a report council sent to B.C.’s municipal affairs minister.

The report itself is meant to detail the progress council has made in addressing municipal advisor Henry Braun’s recommendations, and the figures available that tally the burden Hamer-Jackson places on city hall.

Here’s a look at the controversial council term by the numbers, based on what’s teased from the council report to the province and previous reporting:

• 3: Months the mayor was in office before facing his first workplace harassment investigation and the number of times an investigator found he breached council’s code of conduct.
• 5: Months in office before councillors held a press conference denouncing the mayor’s behaviour at city hall.
• 24: Substantiated workplace bullying and harassment complaints against the mayor.
• 21: Times the mayor was found to have breached privacy law.
• 50%: The ratio of closed and special council meetings the mayor has missed since taking office, often without explaining why. For regularly scheduled open meetings, he almost always attends.
• $1 million: The additional legal cost and resource strain he has burdened taxpayers with, according to councillors.
• 23: Code of Conduct investigations sparked by city council as of March 2025, with 17 of them either withdrawn or dismissed.
• $308,372: The combined cost of Code of Conduct investigations.
• 2: Times we know a council member secretly recorded a colleague.
• 5: Civil lawsuits involving the mayor since 2022.
• 0: How many fart jokes the mayor told at a business gala.
• 3: How many offices the mayor has used since elected including two at city hall.
• 17: Months until the next municipal election.
• 27: Months before that 2026 election the mayor announced he’d run again.