Kamloops Councillor Bill Sarai was named President of the Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) at their convention held in Revelstoke April 29th to May 2nd.
Sarai was serving as First Vice-President, so the promotion would normally come as no surprise.
An uncontested path to the presidency
The interesting part is Sarai didn't defeat another candidate.
While it's accurate to say he was elected, it's just as accurate to say the position was filled without a contest.
Sarai was the only nominee. That shifts the question from why he won—to why there was no alternative.
A recent finding of deceptive conduct
Not long before this appointment, Sarai was the subject of a formal Code of Conduct investigation involving Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson.
The findings were undisputed, and supported by Sarai’s own statements.
Sarai initiated a confrontation with the Mayor and secretly recorded it. He later edited that recording, used it to disparage the Mayor, and was not truthful about where it came from.
Before that became public, Sarai also described the Mayor’s concerns about being recorded as “paranoid” and “delusional,” while in possession of the recording itself.
If the Mayor had not taken his concerns to the RCMP, Sarai's secret might have remained hidden from the public.
Sanctions—and what followed
Council imposed sanctions in response.
These included a formal reprimand, required apologies, and mandatory training. There was also the possibility of pay reduction if he failed to comply.
Sarai was removed from his role as Deputy Mayor.
The investigation also carried a financial cost, with taxpayers left with a bill over $39,000.00.
Calls for his resignation followed, and a public petition calling for him to step down remains in circulation.
But within Council, the longer-term trajectory moved in a different direction.
Sarai was later appointed chair of the Governance and Service Excellence Select Committee.
It is a title that, at minimum, invites comparison with the findings that preceded it.
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Public reaction and unanswered questions
Public reaction to Sarai’s appointment as SILGA President has not been uniform, but it has not been quiet either.
Some residents have expressed surprise. Others have questioned how someone who admitted to being untruthful in an official matter could move into a leadership role representing local governments across the Southern Interior.
Those reactions do not determine the outcome. But they point to a question that has not been clearly addressed by the institutions involved.
Was this history considered—and if so, how?
Representation at public expense
Kamloops councillors attended the convention, funded by taxpayers. Delegates participate in votes, governance decisions, and leadership selection.
Sarai’s move into the presidency happened in that context, with a significant local presence in the room.
There has been no clear public explanation of whether his recent conduct was raised during that process, or whether it factored into the outcome.
What the sequence shows
Viewed step by step, each part of this story can be explained on its own.
A councillor is investigated. Findings are made. Sanctions are applied. Time passes. Roles change. Opportunities come forward.
Taken together, though, the sequence is harder to separate.
A finding of deceptive conduct is followed by continued advancement—first within Council, and then at the regional level.
That raises a straightforward question about how accountability operates in practice, and where its limits are.
Election 2026
Voters in Kamloops will make their own decision in the October 17, 2026 municipal election.
By that point, this record will not be new. It is already documented, investigated, and publicly reported.
What remains is whether it carries consequences at the ballot box.
Your vote counts, more than it ever has before.
Please start planning now to get out there and vote for councillors you truly believe will reflect your voice in City Hall.
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