April 27, 2011
Townships council
split over returns
by Vance Gutzman
Jim Gibson and Ed Aiston may be at the next Head, Clara, Maria council
meeting, or they may not.
The two townships council members who are at the centre of attention
for failing to file financial disclosure forms on time, as per the
Municipal Elections Act, were at a special meeting of HCM council
Monday morning, but did not vote.
The meeting was called to seek council's approval to have the
townships' solicitor apply to have a court retroactively extend the
filing date for the financial forms of the two councillors in question,
and to have the same court rule that their seats are not forfeited.
The Ontario Municipal Elections Guide states that candidates who do not
file financial disclosure forms by the March 25 deadline forfeit their
office in doing so.
"It's an unfortunate situation," Councillor Dave Foote said Monday
morning as council prepared to vote on the resolution.
Although the townships' solicitor believes the legislation is quite
clear on the matter, meaning the seats should be forfeited, Foote said
he would not feel comfortable in taking that at face value until the
municipality could obtain a court-ordered decision.
Foote spoke to the motion first, and then Reeve Tammy Stewart asked
Councillor Robert Reid for his opinion of the resolution at hand.
But at that point Councillor Aiston interjected and took the floor
instead.
"There were no expenses, so I assumed the Elections Act did not apply,"
Aiston said in his own defence.
"The Elections Act doesn't apply and there was no breach of the
Elections Act. It's a total waste of time."
When Councillor Reid did speak, he took quite the opposite view.
"We're supposed to be clear and transparent," Reid said, noting
that the municipality has an opinion from its solicitor that it
can base a decision on.
"I'm just trying to do things the right way," Reid said.
"I don't know what clarification you need, other than that."
Gibson, who serves as the townships' deputy reeve, concurred, however,
with Aiston's sentiments.
"This whole issue has been blown out of proportion," Gibson asserted at
the meeting, which was held in the townships hall, rather than the
council chambers, in front of a handful of public spectators.
While the resolution being discussed was aimed at having the filing
date extended for both himself and Aiston, Gibson said the
meeting to vote on it served no effective purpose, as municipal clerk
Melinda Reith had already taken it upon herself to contact the
municipal solicitor that same morning, asking him to proceed with a
court application.
"An act of council and only an act of council will resolve this issue,"
Gibson said.
"This meeting serves no purpose whatsoever and we should adjourn
immediately."
Reith did indeed sent a letter that morning to the municipality's
lawyer, Bill Instance.
"You are very much aware of the situation I find myself in," she wrote
to Instance.
"Upon discussion with my treasurer this morning, I have determined that
it is very much within my authority to request the following...”
The "following" being that Instance proceed with an application to the
appropriate court seeking the same remedies for Gibson and Aiston as
asked for in the council resolution which was up for debate.
Reeve Stewart, meanwhile, took exception to Reith's letter, not so much
because it was, essentially, circumventing the resolution on the table,
but because of some of its wording.
"I as clerk am in a position whereby the reeve refuses to discuss this
issue and is not taking any steps to resolve it," Reith stated in
Monday's letter to Instance.
"She appears to be adamant about upholding the legislation."
"My job is quite clear," Stewart said in response.
"I have asked for a legal opinion and I got it. The two members have
forfeited their seats."
Stewart went on to say that the onus should be on Gibson and Aiston,
and not the municipality, to seek any legal redress from the
courts.
When it came time for a recorded vote on the resolution, Stewart called
upon Foote and Reid, and herself, but not Gibson and Aiston for a yea
or nay on the resolution at hand.
"I believe I'm still a member of this council," Gibson interjected,
about not being called to vote on the resolution.
"The solicitor has stated you forfeited your seat," Stewart replied.
Both Reid and Stewart voted against the motion, while Foote supported
it.
But while three members is a quorum of council, Gibson said the reeve
was in error.
"If I'm not a member of council, why was I on the roll call?" Gibson
wondered.
The NRT could not confirm whether or not Gibson had been on the roll
call for Monday morning's meeting, as it had not been previously
publicized.
The NRT only learned about the meeting when a municipal ratepayer
called the NRT office 25 minutes prior to the meeting's 10 am start.
The NRT correspondent walked in to the meeting after the roll call had
already been taken.
Head, Clara, Maria treasurer Ruth Morin came into the meeting at one
point, and said she had pushed Reith to seek a legal opinion on the
matter because the municipality's financial health is also at stake in
the whole issue.
"We risk losing $157,000 worth of funding from the Ontario Municipal
Partnership Fund," Morin said.
"Let's get a definitive answer so we have something to back our case."
With the council resolution having been voted down, but the municipal
solicitor being directed by an action of the clerk anyway, the meeting
ended with no definitive answer as to whether or not Gibson and Aiston
are still members of council.
Following the recorded vote, Stewart suggested council should also use
the meeting consider its options for replacing the two councillors.
But Reith said the meeting had one purpose and one purpose only - for
council to vote on whether or not it would authorize the municipal
solicitor to seek remedy in the courts.
The townships' next regular council meeting is scheduled for Friday,
May 6 at 2 pm, at which time there will be five members of council
present in the chambers, or just three, depending upon whose legal
opinion you believe.
The one definite thing that did come out of Monday's meeting is the
knowledge that relations between council members has hit an all-time
low.
"The real casualty in all of this is the goodwill we've normally had
around this table," Aiston said.
"I'll agree with you there," Stewart replied.
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