Witless Bay does not need government intervention

As minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment, I felt that it was important to respond to your July 20, 2017 article concerning issues related to the Town of Witless Bay.

The legal proceedings against the Town of Witless Bay’s former deputy mayor were recently concluded, and the Department of Justice and Public Safety is currently reviewing the court ruling in the context of the legislation and what it means for how we move forward.

The town’s ability to advance town business should not be impacted. As part of their duties, town councillors are required to attend council meetings to ensure that town business can continue.

The Municipalities Act, 1999 is designed so that the provincial government does not intervene in council operations unless absolutely necessary — such as when there are not enough members for quorum and council business cannot carry on. This is not the case for Witless Bay; the town has a sufficient number of councillors. The department has also been in frequent contact with councillors and clearly stated that we would be more than willing to work with the four councillors to help resolve their differences.

To provide context, 25 per cent of town councils in Newfoundland and Labrador were without a full complement after the 2013 municipal election — and the vast majority of these have still been able to move forward with town business since that time, because the existing members have continued to carry out their duties as they were elected to do.

We also appreciate that there is room to improve the municipal legislative framework and have had good discussions with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador and the Professional Municipal Administrators.

Through The Way Forward, we have committed to review all municipal legislation, which will include addressing such issues as councillor and mayoral conduct.

To support this work, we have recruited a director of legislative renewal who will build on the work to review and renew the municipal legislative framework. This is the first time this review has been accompanied by a dedicated resource — showing the priority our government places on this important task.

We have also heard residents’ concerns about how changing demographics will affect the long-term sustainability of local governments. As part of The Way Forward, we have announced that we will explore models for regional government. Public consultations will begin in late August, and I encourage residents to participate in any of the 22 in-person events or online.

I would like to end by thanking the officials of the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment for their continued efforts to assist over 440 communities in building safe and sustainable communities.

I would also like to thank the numerous citizens who volunteer their time to serve on our municipal councils, local service district committees, and the organizations that support them.

The work you do impacts the lives of all of your citizens, and I very much appreciate the efforts of all of our town councils and committees.

Eddie Joyce, minister Municipal Affairs and Environment