A consultant’s report has cleared Mayor Shawn Mesheau of a conflict of interest when he chaired a series of Sackville town council meetings dealing with a matter affecting the company where his brother Peter has worked for years.
Local journalist Bruce Wark and one other unnamed person filed formal complaints in June under Sackville town council’s code of conduct policy. Wark alleged that the mayor should have recused himself from meetings dealing with zoning amendments that made way for AIL Group to build a new pipe factory on Walker Road in Sackville.
Had the mayor recused himself, the act of doing so may have called attention to the business affiliations of the applicants for the zoning amendments. According to documentation presented to council by Plan 360 planner Lori Bickford, Mike Wilson and Andrew Fraser applied for the zoning change, which is a text amendment affecting all industrial zoned land in the town. Mike Wilson is CEO of the AIL Group and Andrew Fraser is the former owner of the new pipe factory site.
Five councillors voted on Tuesday to accept an investigator’s report and dismiss the complaints against Mesheau, with one councillor opposed. (Councillors Sabine Dietz and Ken Hicks were absent.)
Councillor Bruce Phinney was the lone vote against, and told council he thought the matter was open to interpretation. “As a matter of fact, if you had another lawyer look at it,” said Phinney on Tuesday, “they may turn around and interpret in another way.”
Phinney added he did not think there was any intent on the part of the mayor to break the code of conduct, but he also felt the investigator’s report was at odds with what he had been previously taught about conflict of interest rules at council.
Councillor Bill Evans voted in favour of dismissing the complaint, but also indicated that the Mayor could have avoided the question, and saved the town about $8,000 in consultant’s fees, by preemptively recusing himself.
“This could have been avoided if we had adhered to our very consistent practice… where there’s any doubt, declaring it. So if people feel that there may be a conflict, you can recuse. And if there isn’t, at least it stated in advance,” said Evans.
Evans said that even though he felt the complaints could have been dismissed right away, he voted in favour of hiring a consultant for an investigation because not doing so would have “looked bad.” Evans said he “felt compelled to do an investigation, and the findings I completely support.”
One of the original complainants, Bruce Wark, stepped up to the mic during question period at the end of Tuesday’s meeting, and thanked council for taking the matter seriously and appointing an investigator. “I think it was a serious matter,” said Wark, “and I took it seriously. And you obviously took it seriously, too. So thank you.”
But Wark was disappointed to be told that the investigator’s report into the complaints would not be made public, or released to him as complainant. CAO Jamie Burke explained that Wark, the mayor, and the other complainant would receive a letter from the town, prepared by the consultant who investigated the matter, but he wasn’t sure what level of detail would be in the letter.
“In these types of cases, there will be some type of summary that the investigator will prepare on the town’s behalf to go to both complainants and the respondent,” said Burke. “It’s too early for me to speculate and say what is going to be in that letter. You’ve just got to hang tight, and you’ll get it in the next couple of days.”
