Sherwood councillor headed to trial
Tim Probe facing 2 charges from 2016
Tim Probe, a councillor at the RM of Sherwood charged with municipal corruption, has been committed to stand trial.
His one-day preliminary hearing — to determine if there is sufficient evidence for a trial — concluded in Regina provincial court on Tuesday. A date for a trial in Court of Queen’s Bench is still to be set.
Probe was charged last fall with two offences stemming from a February 2016 incident. The first count alleges that he, “being an official of the Rural Municipality of Sherwood, Saskatchewan, did commit a breach of trust in connection with the duties of his office.”
The second alleges Probe, “being a municipal official, offer to or agree to accept from another person an advantage or benefit as consideration for his voting in favour of a measure, resolution or motion; or to aid in procuring the adoption of a measure, motion or resolution.”
On Tuesday, the date of the charges was amended to read Feb. 1, rather than the Feb. 2 date referred to in earlier court documents.
Evidence presented during the preliminary hearing cannot be reported at this time because of a standard publication ban.
As reported by the Leader-Post in November, court documents indicate a proposed Suncor Energy truck stop development is central to the case, as are legal feels which stem from the 2014 Barclay Inquiry into the RM. Last year, RM of Sherwood officials said Suncor had been looking to develop a patch of land which lies within the RM. The land belongs to Roch and Bonnie Poissant, parents of Jeff Poissant, the RM’s current reeve. Poissant previously said he expected to be a witness for the prosecution if a trial went ahead.
In a separate matter, Probe was found by the Saskatchewan ombudsman in January to have been in a conflict of interest when, at a January 2016 council meeting, he took part in a vote related to legal fees that councillors — including himself — had been reimbursed for, following their roles in the Barclay inquiry.
The ombudsman found that Joe Repetski, a then-councillor who was also repaid fees and also voted, was similarly compromised. In September 2015 a bylaw passed by the RM to allow such repayments was struck down at the Court of Queen’s Bench, and Sherwood locals had been pushing for the fees’ repayment to the RM.
Probe has questioned the ombudsman’s findings. He is on leave from the council but has refused to resign his seat entirely, although he has been replaced as deputy reeve.