How was your summer? If you’re the mayor of Kamloops, it was unforgettable in the worst way.

The controversies surrounding Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson have become routine since he took office almost three years ago, but the past several weeks may have been the most eventful and consequential.

In roughly 10 weeks, he has been involved in two more police matters, several court appearances, more public battles, has to pay his lawyers and lost more power and salary.

Most of it, according to the rest of council, remains forgivable. If he does nothing to appease his council colleagues’ directives to apologize and other demands, Hamer-Jackson will bring in just a fifth of what he’s supposed to, earning the equivalent of a roughly $24,000 annual salary. The notoriously stubborn mayor has publicly refused to do any such thing.

Asked last month about the combined 80 per cent salary cut, he laughed.

“Isn’t that something?” Hamer-Jackson said. “I’m struggling paying some bills. When I do sell my properties, I’m going to be just fine.”

The summer began with then-municipal affairs minister, Ravi Kahlon, reacting to Hamer-Jackson’s controversial conduct by announcing in June planned changes to BC legislation to bring more tools to deal with the “dysfunction.”

That was just days after council released a 433-page report summarizing how Hamer-Jackson has cost taxpayers more than $1 million in legal fees, breached privacy laws and spurred multiple WorkSafeBC investigations.

Since then, few weeks went by without seeing “Kamloops mayor” in the headline of a local news story.

Before June ended, Hamer-Jackson claimed he was “assaulted” by a journalist he would later describe as “an enemy”. The police complaint ended with Kamloops RCMP describing it as a case of “unwanted contact.”

Castanet editor Tim Petruk criticized the complaint as illegitimate and an effort to harass a journalist for critical coverage. When iNFOnews.ca asked whether the mayor making a false report amounted to public mischief, police said “the evidence does not support any further investigation.”

Hamer-Jackson did achieve a minor victory this summer when he convinced a judge to delay Coun. Katie Neustaeter’s effort to toss his defamation lawsuit against her because he said he didn’t have a lawyer. Hamer-Jackson owes thousands of dollars in unpaid legal fees to two lawyers already but managed to find another one at the last minute.

The summer didn’t get better for him, though.

News in Kamloops has been dominated by headlines about Hamer-Jackson in the past few weeks.

His downtown car dealership was ransacked in a mysterious break-in where little if anything was stolen. He filed a second defamation suit against Neustaeter. He was directly blamed for former Kamloops CAO David Trawin’s resignation. He confronted Coun. Bill Sarai in a very public blow-up at a downtown car show. And, he agreed to pay an outstanding $42,000 to his former lawyer.

If that wasn’t enough, he said he broke some ribs in a mountain biking crash that month.

In mid-August, council then opted to release a letter it sent the mayor in December 2022 that documented in detail how Hamer-Jackson became a legal liability within weeks of the election. The letter had no consequences beyond its publication last month, but yet another new investigation report released almost simultaneously did end with damning findings for Hamer-Jackson and a massive blow to his salary.

It found the mayor violated conflict of interest laws and resulted in more stripped earnings, benefits and job duties from an increasingly squeezed Hamer-Jackson.

At the centre of that investigation is Hamer-Jackson’s lawsuit against a local developer, which also happens to be the focus of his second police complaint this summer.

Hamer-Jackson and Kamloops RCMP have both refused to comment on the investigation, but iNFOnews.ca learned Hamer-Jackson urged police to investigate a claim he groped Nikole Knaak at a bar. She’s the wife of local developer Joshua Knaak, who is the one named in his defamation lawsuit for what he allegedly said about it. Hamer-Jackson has previously told iNFOnews.ca of attempts to convince the local developer and his wife to take the allegation to police.

When asked about the police file, Kamloops RCMP has only responded to confirm it remains under investigation by the local detachment.

Saddled with legal fees and vandalized property while his car dealership remains vacant, Hamer-Jackson’s time in office may be costing him more than he earns. But he could at least see his salary returned to normal if he signed the apology letters and took training as imposed by eight other elected officials.

“It’s not about the money for council. It’s about trying to take corrective actions so the behaviour can change,” Coun. Mike O’Reilly said. “We want sound, stable governance and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.”

Coun. Bill Sarai is the only other councillor to face sanctions for breaking conduct rules, coming after iNFOnews.ca revealed he lied about a secret recording. A potential five per cent pay cut was avoided after he signed apology letters and took mandatory training.

Although a conflict of interest is one of the few ways a BC mayor can be ousted from office, it appears unlikely council wants to take that fight to court. With the next election just 14 months away, O’Reilly said he feels there just simply isn’t enough time.

“I think we are where we are. The mayor was duly elected, and that has to be remembered…. Unless it’s something very egregious, law courts are meant for things outside municipal politics. If there were 10 people from the community who want to go down that road, they can do that,” he said. “For me, it’s about keeping my head down and chin up. We don’t have time to deal with drama and we have a lot of very big things going on in the city of Kamloops.”

Hamer-Jackson has a reputation for digging in his heels at the sign of resistance and the newest sanctions won’t change that.

“I will not be signing a letter apologizing to Katie Neustaeter because she’s a liar. I will not be signing a letter saying I apologize to Joshua Knaak because he’s a liar,” he said. “I’m not going to be signing a letter saying I misled the public.”

Asked last month about whether he had anything to say about the conflict of interest finding, he yet again took aim at the investigator’s credibility and suggested council’s decision was a forgone conclusion.

“He’s been hired by the city to get the result they want, and then (city councillors) go into a little closed room and they vote. It’s the same jury every time,” Hamer-Jackson said.