The Town of Athabasca’s council has filled the positions on committees left vacant by Coun. Nichole Adams after she stepped down from council.
At the meeting Jan. 3, interim CAO Doug Topinka said that while some of Adams’ committee positions had already been reassigned, there were several others that still needed attention.
During the Dec. 9 council meeting, a motion was passed to reinstate Mayor Roger Morrill and Coun. Tim Verhaeghe to the committees they previously sat on before being removed from them last February.
Those motions reinstated Morrill and Verhaeghe to their old committees with the expectation that Adams would be stepping down, but it still left several spots to be filled.
“The motions made that were made at the Dec. 9 meeting cover most of the committees,” Topinka said. “But there were some that weren’t addressed.”
The remaining vacancies were in the Municipal Planning Commission, the Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee, the Aspen Regional Water Services Commission, the Athabasca Regional Waste Services Commission and the Points West Living Liaison Committee.
Adams also served as an alternate member of committees on Family and Community Support Services, the Greater North Foundation, the Northern Lights Library System and the Northern Lakes Community Education.
Council voted on who should take the remaining places and which seats should remain vacant.
Morrill takes a seat on the Aspen Regional Water Services Commission, Coun. Joanne Peckham is on the Athabasca Regional Waste Services Commission, Verhaeghe joins the Points West Living Liaison Committee and Coun. Shelly Gurba is on the Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee. Adams’ seat on the Municipal Planning Commission remains vacant.
Coun. Tanu Evans replaces Adams as alternate on the Family and Community Support Services committee while Gurba joins the Northern Lights Library System and the Northern Lakes Community Education committees. Adams’ alternate seat on the Greater North Foundation is vacant.
The only contention about committee assignments came when Peckham and Verhaeghe disagreed over who should sit on the town’s Communication Committee.
Verhaeghe had previously led the committee but was replaced by Peckham after being removed from all his committees. Verhaeghe expected to be reinstated to his position, but to do so would require that Peckham either step down from the committee voluntarily or council vote to remove her.
Evans suggested a compromise where the committee could be expanded to include two councillors.
Verhaeghe said he could not work with Peckham.
“For the record I was called a ‘little bitch’ outside of council chambers by councillor Peckham,” he said. “Therefore, I cannot work with councillor Peckham. I’m afraid of what I might be called next.”
Following further discussion, Peckham remained on the committee.
The regular portion of the council meeting lasted about half an hour, but the in-camera portion lasted three hours.
At 9:26 p.m., Evans took a break from the meeting, noting as he walked out of the room he would like a gun for himself.
While out of Chambers, Verhaeghe made the motion to go out of camera, Topinka said. The public were not invited back into the room.
Within a minute, the motion to adjourn was made by Verhaeghe and passed, Topinka said.
Evans noted after the meeting he had every intention of returning to chambers.
Two people from the company conducting the municipal inspection were also at the meeting.
– With files from Allendria Brunjes
