Town council voted to ask Coun. Nichole Adams to resign from her position immediately, or administration will go to the Court of Queen's bench to have her disqualified.
At their Sept. 20 meeting, the Town of Athabasca's council voted to ask Coun. Nichole Adams to resign from her position immediately, or administration will initiate an application to the Court of Queen's bench to have her disqualified.
After an in-camera session that lasted more than an hour, Coun. Tim Verhaeghe made the motion. Mayor Roger Morrill and Coun. Steve Schafer supported it. Coun. Shelly Gurba voted against it after a pause.
“Yeah, I'm going to be opposed, ” Gurba said during the vote.
Coun. Nichole Adams said in an email after the meeting that she had no comment on the motion at this time. Adams, who was present at the meeting, left when the in-camera session began.
After the meeting, Coun. Joanne Peckham - who left during the in-camera session - said she had to leave for a work-related phone call.
Coun. Tanu Evans left the meeting as Verhaeghe started to read the motion asking Adams to resign. Evans said he “won't partake in anymore council infighting. ”
“If they're going to behave like children, I'm just going to leave, ” he said. “It wasn't pre-planned or anything, like some of the comments on Facebook are suggesting … Sometimes you have to let your siblings fight it out, and I'm not getting involved anymore. I made that mistake with the first motion, and again, it would have passed with or without my support. And I'm not going to make that mistake again. ”
Verhaeghe said that at present time, he could not say why he made the motion, as that information is in camera.
“I don't like things being done in camera, ” he said. “But this is a legal issue, which is one of the reasons to go in camera. ”
He did say that a previous council meeting, council voted to seek a legal opinion regarding an invoice from West-Can Seal Coating Inc.
The invoice, dated for Aug. 9 and brought up at the Sept. 6 council meeting by Morrill, was for $67.685.10 worth of cape seal and micro-surfacing for Aspen Village Condominiums.
Aspen Village paid a bill of $67,819.50 to the town soon afterward, which included an extra $134.40 for pails of pothole repair and a service truck and operator. Council did not vote to approve the work.
More: Town gets legal opinion on bills
Adams said in an email on Sept. 14 that she is president of the board of directors for Aspen Village Condominiums.
“Given that this appears to be a potential legal issue between the Town and the Condominium, I will need to decline to answer further questions at this time, ” she said at the time. “Sorry I cannot be of more assistance, however I am not comfortable commenting further on something that could potentially harm either the Town or the Condo, or put me in a conflict of interest of some sort, until I can get some more information and legal advice on how to handle this moving forward. ”
Verhaeghe said councillors could read the legal opinion on Sept. 20 before the meeting.
“We came out of camera (at the Sept. 20 meeting), and the motion was made, ” Verhaeghe said. “From the previous meeting, to the legal opinion, to going in camera, to coming out of camera, I saw it fitting to make the motion to ask Councillor Adams to resign immediately from Athabasca town council, and failing which, for administration to initiate and make an application to the Court of Queen's Bench to have her disqualified. ”
When asked if he saw any irony in the situation, Verhaeghe said yes.
“Yes, but the difference is I never knew what I may have been liable for - nobody ever told me, ” he said. “Here, according to the facts, there was some paving done … It was privately-owned land. Councillor Adams is president of the condo board. Somehow, negotiations took place for this cap-and-seal product to be applied to their roads. Somehow, money went into the town office to pay for this. This was not authorized by council. ”
Peckham said she did not understand the motion “at all. ”
“I don't think there was anything shady about it, ” she said.
Gurba said she had nothing to say, except that she thinks Adams has to present her case.
“That's why I voted the way I did, ” she said. “Until I hear both sides - I don't jump the gun until both sides are presented. Was I lonely at being the single person saying no? Yes. ”
Evans pointed out that to disqualify a councillor is nearly impossible. He added that it does nothing but hamper council's ability to deal with the difficult issues they are facing.
“The legislation has absolutely no teeth, ” he said. “It's a gumless bit of writing. And again, with 13 months left, it's basically a motion that could never succeed. It's pointless in the long scheme of things. It does nothing but inflame tensions once again. ”
