`Official administrator' installed to monitor Chestermere council
Municipal affairs minister takes rare step amid `continued escalation of conflict'
The province has installed a referee to monitor Chestermere city council, prompted by what Municipal Affairs Minister Ric Mciver called “increasing dysfunction” among the city's elected officials.
Still the subject of a provincial investigation into its governance — the first of its kind in Alberta since 2018 — Chestermere's council will now require the OK from an “official administrator” for many of its decisions. In a written statement to Postmedia, Mciver said the department has been aware of “significant governance concerns” relating to Chestermere for several months, which led him to order the municipal inspection in May.
“This type of inspection of a municipal council in Alberta is very unusual, and I do not take this kind of action lightly,” said Mciver, issuing his first public statement on the investigation. “However, the dysfunction within Chestermere's council has continued to escalate, requiring further action.”
The ministerial order was issued Wednesday, appointing an official administrator — longtime public servant Douglas Lagore — to the city. Under the Municipal Government Act, an official administrator has the authority to quash any resolution or bylaw council passes up to 30 days after its approval and is required to sign off on some council decisions before they can take effect.
Mciver said Lagore won't interfere with regular city business but “will not approve any council decisions that will contribute to further council dysfunction.”
The move comes directly after two contentious council meetings. On Sept. 20, council approved more than 100 code of conduct investigations into three councillors, and on Tuesday Mayor Jeff Colvin presented a more than 50page document containing dozens of emails and portions of a Postmedia article he claimed as evidence of the councillors' misconduct.
The considerable number of code of conduct investigations launched over the past few months focused solely on the actions of three councillors — Ritesh Narayan, Shannon Dean and Sandy Johal-watt — whose complaints to Municipal Affairs triggered the provincial investigation.
Colvin and councillors Mel Foat, Stephen Hanley and Blaine Funk — who were the main subjects of the other three's complaints — were the majority vote behind all of the conduct investigations. The same bloc also voted to sanction Narayan on Tuesday, removing him from city committees and muzzling him with a cease and desist letter, partly for comments he made to Postmedia regarding his concerns over recent events.
In a Wednesday letter to the mayor and council from Mciver, which was obtained by Postmedia, the minister pointed to those two recent meetings and the feud among council as the spark for the province to step in.
“I have taken this action at this time because I am deeply troubled by the continued escalation of conflict within council, as demonstrated at the September 20 and 27, 2022, council meetings where council launched 100 investigations for alleged code of conduct complaints,” Mciver wrote. “The use of the code of conduct in this manner, and to this magnitude, indicates a degree of intra-council conflict that I believe puts at risk council's ability to govern effectively and in the best interests of your residents.”
In a text message to Postmedia, Colvin said he's kept the department apprised of the alleged violations by the three councillors, “especially Coun. Narayan's alleged infractions.” He framed the province's decision to step in to be a result of that correspondence, despite Mciver indicating otherwise in his letter to council and his statement on the matter.
“Prior to (Minister Mciver's) order on Sept. 28, 2022, on behalf of council I sent Minister Mciver a letter outlining our concerns on various actions that have been occurring within the city. One of them being the code of conducts being discussed,” Colvin said in a written statement.
The mayor said the city will send a full accounting of the alleged infractions, including the document presented Tuesday, to the department and reiterated that all of the council-related investigations are conducted by a third party.
University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young said installing an official within a municipality is a rare and significant step for a provincial government. The province typically leaves local governments to manage their own affairs.
“To appoint an administrator like this really does speak to there being a significant issue or set of issues,” she said. “This doesn't go as far as ordering a new election or somehow dissolving the council, but it certainly does speak to provincial government's concern about the city.”
Municipal Affairs officials are expected to present the inspection report to council for feedback sometime this fall. The report will then be made public and the minister will make recommendations or orders as to how the situation should be remedied, which can include actions as severe as removing elected officials from office.
Mciver said the official administrator will serve as a “bridge” until the investigation is finalized. Lagore will remain at the city at least until the end of January 2023, and longer if the minister deems it necessary.
“The decision to appoint an official administrator is never made lightly,” Mciver said in his statement. “However, increasing dysfunction among members of Chestermere city council cannot be allowed to put the well-being of the community at risk. Alberta's government is taking the necessary approach to restore good governance and protect the citizens and community of Chestermere.”