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Kamloops councillor says she is 'beyond' frustrated as mayor who sued her seeks to delay hearing

Delay frustrates councillor

A Kamloops city councillor who is being sued by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson for defamation says she is “beyond” frustrated as the mayor looks to delay their day in court.

“All of my time and energy should be focused right now on doing the work of the people of Kamloops. Instead, this frivolous and vexatious lawsuit continues to drag out, wasting time, wasting resources, wasting energy,” Neustaeter said.

“It was absurd to begin with, to find myself in a position where the mayor is again delaying these proceedings — and dragging them out painfully is beyond frustration.”

She said she’d prefer to be speaking about the things that impact Kamloops citizens, like a new landmark deal reached for the community’s sobering and assessment centre business case, Tuesday’s meeting where council intends to discuss how to bring down a provisional 9.67 per cent tax increase, and the push to build more recreation facilities.

“We should be talking about the things that impact the people of Kamloops, and not just the nonsense of Reid Hamer-Jackson,” Neustaeter said.

The mayor filed his lawsuit against Neustaeter in the summer of 2023, saying, among other claims, that a prepared statement she made on behalf of all of council had damaging effects on him.

After initial November 2024 court dates were scrapped, Neustaeter and Hamer-Jackson were due to be in court this week so a judge could hear Neustaeter’s application to dismiss the case through an anti-SLAPP filing.

This week’s hearing was cancelled at the last minute because a judge wasn’t available, but Hamer-Jackson had already applied to the court to seek an adjournment.

His application said he isn’t adequately prepared for the hearing. Hamer-Jackson decided to self-represent after his lawyer withdrew from the case last month, but according to the document, he needs time to gather money so he can hire another lawyer instead.

“If I could have made this happen back in November, it would have. If I could have made it happen before that, it would have. I will take the earliest possible dates available to me,” Neustaeter said.

“I’ve been ready to go for a very long time, and Mayor Hamer-Jackson just keeps putting it off."

Lawyer David McMillan originally represented Hamer-Jackson on the Neustaeter case. McMillan passed the torch to lawyer Daniel Coles last year. Coles withdrew from the file in December, with the mayor citing mounting legal bills as the reason why the two parted ways.

McMillan has since taken Hamer-Jackson to court, claiming he hasn’t been paid for years of legal work.

Neustaeter said the fact that Hamer-Jackson hasn’t been able to find another lawyer for this case “shouldn’t be a surprise.”

“Mayor Hamer-Jackson has demonstrated repeatedly that he cannot work with others, and that he is more interested in these petty grievances than he is in doing the work of the people,” she said.

When reached by Castanet Kamloops for comment on this statement, the mayor said Neustaeter can keep saying "whatever she wants," but he’s been in business for a long time, has been involved in the community, and has a good reputation.

“She doesn't know me,” he said, adding he thinks it’s “just wrong” that council voted to grant Neustaeter indemnification for her legal fees to defend against Hamer-Jackson’s lawsuit claims. He said the councillor should be paying for her own legal bills.

Neustaeter’s lawyer intends to have Hamer-Jackson cover the city’s legal bill if the dismissal application is successful.

Hamer-Jackson said his finances have been depleted by a “barrage” of code of conduct complaints filed against him by other members of city council, and said a lawyer was necessary to get some of them dismissed.

In response to that claim, Neustaeter said it isn't a requirement to hire a lawyer in response to a code of conduct complaint, adding when “Reid and his supporters” brought complaints against her that were found to have no merit, “I certainly didn’t employ a lawyer to look at those.”

“That was a decision that he made, and not something he had to do,” she said. “How he manages his finances is his business — but that shouldn't keep us out of having fair court proceedings with this vexatious lawsuit.”

She noted Hamer-Jackson opted to spend last month in Mexico.

"I would think that would impact my ability to do what was needed if I was in his shoes, too," she said.

The councillor said she wasn’t sure yet what the next steps would be in the case, noting she was only informed late Friday that the judge wouldn’t be available for the scheduled court dates.



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