There was no chair for the mayor of Kamloops at a candidates’ forum Thursday, but not because he wasn’t invited.

Incumbent Reid Hamer-Jackson was standing outside the doors of the Mount Paul Community Food Centre on the North Shore, but he left while candidates in the local election were already talking to more than 100 voters at the forum geared toward seniors.

The only mayoral candidate not in attendance, Hamer-Jackson briefly spoke with iNFOnews.ca before leaving the packed event less than 15 minutes after it started. He didn’t make it beyond the doors.

“I was going to sit in the audience because I’m a senior too, but it’s already full,” he said standing outside the community hall.

There was a full house at the forum, Sept. 24, with standing room in the foyer for late comers.

Almost every candidate running in the Kamloops election were there to pitch their platforms on a range of issues from taxes and public safety, to data centres and the environment.

Hamer-Jackson was the only incumbent candidate not in attendance.

Organizer, incumbent council candidate Nancy Bepple, said she invited him multiple times, but he wouldn’t confirm plans to join.

“He had a very long response, which had to do with the (council) code of conduct, and at the very end he said, ‘why do you call it a seniors’ forum when you have failed them?'” Bepple said, quoting a text message from Hamer-Jackson.

He didn’t explicitly say whether he would attend the event, so Bepple, who has organized the event for every election since 2008, took it as a no.

She said other candidates attended without responding in advance, and Hamer-Jackson would have been allowed to join as a candidate had he asked, but no one other than a person manning the door knew he showed up at all.

Others who didn’t attend included council candidates Nevin Webster, Ian Head, Alberto De Marni, Robin Reeb and Doug Ronnquist.

The forum lasted for two hours as incumbents boasted about their council track record and newcomers pitched fresh perspectives to the crowd.

Several audience members who spoke with iNFOnews.ca after the event were unanimously gratified to get an introduction to the 30 candidates who took part.

None would provide their names, but they offered mixed reactions when asked whether they had made up their minds.

Those who reached a conclusion were prepared to oust the mayor and at least some, if not all, incumbent councillors.

“Experience in leadership matters, but we also need fresh blood,” one woman told iNFOnews.ca.

Municipal election days is Saturday, Oct. 17.