Kamloops council extends pause on Public Inquiries during regular meetings

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops council has prolonged the absence of Public Inquiries from regular council meetings.

At its meeting Tuesday afternoon (April 8), council voted to keep the time for the public to ask questions relating to the day’s agenda removed.

Councillor Dale Bass, who moved the continued pause, suggested the decision be revisited once staff return to council with a revised Council Procedure Bylaw.

The only member of council to speak against the removal of the public opportunity was Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson.

“I think we really need to consider going back to where we were at,” he said. “We do have an election coming up pretty quick, so I think we all want to acknowledge that — I don’t think it hurts to have public inquiries, especially the way we had them down to five minutes and delegations at 10 (minutes).”

The Public Inquiries segment of regular meetings was first paused in January. During this term, various councillors have repeatedly complained that both they and staff have been subject to abuse hurled by those coming forward under the guise of asking questions. Last September, a member of the public joining the meeting virtually used their time to display pornography to everyone who was in council chambers or viewing the streaming feed.