Province expects Mckillop to heed referendum result
RM residents fear council is dragging its feet after vote awarded cottagers more say
Saskatchewan Minister of Government Relations Warren Kaeding says he absolutely expects the RM of Mckillop to follow through with the results of a referendum held last month.
According to the Municipalities Act, “If a proposed bylaw or resolution is approved by a vote at a referendum by a majority of the persons voting whose ballots are not rejected, the council shall pass the bylaw or resolution at the first meeting following the vote.”
But when council met following a referendum that saw a majority of residents in the RM vote to alter division boundaries within the RM, no bylaw or resolution pertaining to the matter was passed.
The RM has passed the following resolution: “Mckillop submit an application to the Minister of Government Relations to alter division boundaries as set out on the map provided in the referendum question” and hold a public meeting as well as submit written statements from ratepayers.
Council passed a motion to do this — but no date for when they will submit the application that was included in the resolution. Instead, they decided to accept written public submissions until noon on Nov. 27, 2018.
The referendum resulted in cottage residents, rather than rural ones, getting more control over the RM council.
Some residents have raised concern council is purposefully delaying implementing the results of the referendum, with one writing in an email to Kaeding that council is “attempting to thwart the will of the people by delaying the adoption of the results of the recent referendum to revise the municipal electoral boundaries.”
Kaeding said the province fully anticipates the council “will accordingly and according to the law” implement the changes.
“That’s the expectation of municipalities,” he said.
Asked what he will do, as minister, if that doesn’t take place, Kaeding stated, “We need to cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Certainly hearing of the tension,” he said, noting there are “changing demographics, changing dynamics throughout the province” and sometimes “undertaking change is difficult.”
“It’s going to take a little while for municipalities put into that situation to understand what those changes are going to mean, and then how to adapt to those changes once they’re happening,” he said.
This is the second time in less than a year the RM — population around 700 — has created controversy.
The RM council surprised ratepayers with an Aug. 10 vote to increase residential property taxes by 130 per cent, as well as an $850 base tax on improvements.
In September, an inspector tasked by the province with delving into the financial situation of the RM completed a report, which resulted in Kaeding appointing a supervisor to essentially babysit the Mckillop council. That supervisor remains in place.