In November 2022, Kamloops City Council voted to add another councillor to the TNRD board. That decision is now costing taxpayers an extra $18,140 per year. Was that a good decision?
The Recommendation
Former City of Kamloops CAO David Trawin recommended adding another councillor to the TNRD board because the population increased according to 2021 census data.
The 2021 census results in an additional TNRD director from the city for a total of seven directors and 31 votes. The TNRD letters of patents limits the number of weighted votes for each board of directors to 5. Therefore, there needs to be more than 6 directors if Council wants to achieve the 31 full votes.
What’s the Return?
In my opinion, absolutely nothing! The likelihood of a TNRD vote being so close that the City having 31 rather than 30 votes is not material.
As far as the value of the extra voice, given there were already more than 2 dozen members on the TNRD board, and the City already had 6 of those voices, I see little if any value to the extra voice.
Who Gets Appointed?
The process for determining who will be on the TNRD board is quite simple. The Mayor gets a spot, and the remaining available spots are filled by councillors in order of the number of votes they received in the municipal election, from highest to lowest.
Bass Fails to Recuse
As it was her 2nd term, Councillor Dale Bass should have been aware of how the appointments to the TNRD board are made. She should have known a decision to add another director meant adding her to the TNRD board.
It was Councillor Stephen Karpuk however that pointed out Bass’ conflict of interest. Bass did recuse at that point, but that was a questionable way to start her 2nd term.
O’Reilly Moves the Recommendation
Not only did 2nd term Councillor Mike O’Reilly move the recommendation, he supported it as well. His reasoning: “that’s the number”.
when we look at the percentage, yes, we may be only over by 0.6, but that’s the number there. So at what point would we draw the lines? We’re only over 5 or only over 10. It’s written in letters patent and I truly believe we should be looking at that and I believe as a director on the TNRD and if we’re elected here today, that we will be able to bring that forward to the board and say we should be looking at our letters patent to maintain and keep the size of the board somewhat a controllable and manageable, level and I think that’s worth exploring but as it stands right now, I will be supporting the motion today.
Did O’Reilly ever bring that forward to the TNRD board? As the city still has 7 directors on the board, I’m guessing he either didn’t, or it wasn’t supported.
Sarai Seconds the Motion
Also in his 2nd term, Councillor Bill Sarai seconded the motion. He didn’t however speak to it, so we have no idea why he seconded it. At this point in his political career, when it comes to Sarai, I don’t even care why.
Financial Impact
Strangely, neither Trawin, nor anyone else mentioned the cost of adding another director to the TNRD board.
This doesn’t sound fiscally responsible to me. What it does sound like is taxpayers are now on the hook for another $18,140 per year, as of today’s pay for a Municipal Director.
What Should Have Happened?
Trawin should have presented 2 options and explained the impact and pros and cons of each of them. The first option, maintain the existing number of directors, and the second, adding another director.
O’Reilly should have moved for option 1. If he felt there needed to be a change in the TNRD’s vote weighting, he could have raised the issue with the board afterwards.
Bass should have recused herself immediately. If Karpuk, a new councillor, recognized the conflict, Bass as a 2nd term councillor should have as well. Surprisingly, neither Trawin nor Corporate Officer Maria Mazzotta recognized the conflict before Karpuk did.
Mayor’s Comment
I reached out to ask Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson why he voted in favour of the motion. He told me “I trusted his [Trawin’s] judgement”.
As we were to learn over the years since, Trawin was not someone the Mayor could trust. At a later date, Trawin would falsely accuse the Mayor of threatening to fire him. Trawin would later admit to the Mayor that he lied, something City administration and Council has desperately tried to suppress from the public.
Considering the Mayor was new to the council, and this was their first regular meeting, his answer makes sense to me. Until I dug into this, I had no idea why there were so many TNRD directors for Kamloops.
What Should Happen Now?
To me, the obvious answer is to motion to reduce the number of directors back down to 6. But, then here’s where it gets complicated.
Bass was the 7th member from the city, so it may seem like she should be removed. However, due to Council’s sanctions on the Mayor, Karpuk replaced the Mayor on the board. So even if Bass was removed, she would still be in line to replace the Mayor, resulting in Karpuk’s removal.
On the other hand, given Bass’ recent antics on the board, it still makes sense to remove her and have her replaced with Karpuk.
Based on the number of votes received in the 2022 election, that puts Councillor Nancy Bepple in line to replace the Mayor. But then we have no one left to be an alternate. I don’t see that being a show stopper though.
Now having said all that, I think the right thing to do is to simply remove Sarai from the board, and not replace him. In my opinion, the sanctions placed on Sarai for ‘tapegate’ amounted to a slap on the wrist. He should have been removed from ALL boards he sits on.
The Good Part
Armchair Mayor’s Mel Rothenberger reported on this very topic prior to the meeting: EDITORIAL – City council has a chance to think for itself on TNRD board issue.
It’s worth a read, and you might like to also listen to the previous council’s discussion: Kamloops City Council Meeting 2022-10-18 (2:02:00 mark).
It turns out Bass already knew she had a conflict as she had already had to recuse herself in the past. And, both O’Reilly and Sarai knew they were talking about putting around $15,000 per year in Bass’ pockets.
Election 2026
The next election is October 17, 2026. If you were considering voting for Mike O’Reilly, Bill Sarai, or Dale Bass, I urge you to reconsider.
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