Witless Bay’s chamber of discontent
Minister sets nomination date for election after concluding council incapable of doing so
He called into the council chamber, he listened to the debate, then he had enough.
After concluding there was no way the four town councillors of Witless Bay were going to pass a motion to set a nomination date for the Sept. 26 municipal election, Municipal Affairs and Environment Minister Eddie Joyce directed the clerk of the town to set the date of Sept. 5 for nominations.
Joyce had spoken to the four councillors Thursday evening during a conference call and discussed the ongoing lack of co-operation among them.
“I won’t get into who said what, but it was a very frank discussion,” Joyce said on Friday. “Everybody had an opportunity to speak, but I can say one thing, because of that meeting last night and the discussions at the meeting, there’s no doubt the department and myself made the right decision to have the clerk to call nominations to ensure there will be an election in Witless Bay.
“To ensure the integrity of the election and that the people of Witless Bay can exercise their democratic right, I decided to order the clerk to do that.”
The four remaining council members — down from seven members originally — haven’t been able to pass a motion to set a nomination date for next month’s municipal election despite three public meetings called within a week to address that one item.
In fact, no town business has moved ahead all summer because of the council being unable to meet quorum.
The four members of the council are Mayor Maureen Murphy and councillors Vince Swain, Ralph Carey and Kevin Smart.
Murphy said she couldn’t comment on the Thursday night conference call because it was closed to the public.
However, she said, the minister had two options to choose from to get council past the impasse.
“He could have disbanded the council, or use his ministerial powers to set the nomination date,” she said. “He decided to use his ministerial powers to order the clerk to set the date.”
For years, there have been major issues surrounding the town plan and land development that have split the town council. Rambunctious meetings, allegations of harassment and bullying, councillors resigning or having to vacate their seats, personal attacks on social media and byelections being called had become the norm.
In the meantime, no town business has been able to get moved ahead this summer due to a series of cancelled meetings. A long list of applications for permits and other town business sits collecting dust on the council agenda.
The campaign for a new council is expected to be a nasty affair in the community, as well.
One of the recent issues facing the town council was how a court decision involving former deputy mayor Fraser Paul may impact past decisions of council that he voted on. Paul vacated his seat earlier this summer after the Newfoundland Supreme Court ruled he falsified documents regarding his residency in relation to the October 2016 byelection during which he was voted onto the town council.
Carey, supported by Smart, in recent weeks wanted motions passed to formally dismiss Paul from council back-dated to the time of him winning the byelection in order to legally protect the town from any challenges made regarding decisions Paul may have voted on. He also wanted to have Paul’s residency issue investigated by police.
Joyce confirmed the Paul issue was raised Thursday evening.
He said the department is limited right now by what it can do in the Paul situation because of gaps in the Municipalities Act of Newfoundland and Labrador, which hasn’t been updated in at least 20 years.
“There are some weaknesses in the Municipalities Act, and Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador has seen it, and it pops up from time to time like it did here,” Joyce said.
“This is why we have one person designated who has already started the process of reviewing the whole Municipalities Act for Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Cities Act.”
Joyce said that review started long before the Paul issue came to light and will continue with input from Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, councillors and residents of the province.
“We are already proactive on this,” he said. “This (Paul issue) is another situation that in discussions and in public consultations we will determine what changes should be made to the act. This is something that I’m very confident will be brought forth and looked at when we are doing the review.”