Things move quickly in the world of New Brunswick municipal reform, and on Monday two Sackville town councillors took a stab at slowing that down.
Councillor Bill Evans presented his motion calling for a boycott of the amalgamation process, instructing staff and councillors not to engage in advisory committees set up by the province. Evans argued that it would be more effective to protest the forced amalgamation by making the province “do their own dirty work.”
“Remember, they’ve only got one facilitator [for] five amalgamations,” said Evans. “They can’t do our amalgamation without our help. So let’s not help them. Let’s try to shame the bully and say, maybe we can’t stop you, but we’ll be damned if we will help you.”
Right off the bat, CAO Jamie Burke reacted with a strong message of alarm. Burke said he consulted with the town’s lawyer about the motion, and was paraphrasing from that conversation when he spoke to council Monday.
Burke made that case that Evans’ motion was actually illegal, because the province has passed Bill 82, giving it the tools to impose municipal amalgamations across the province in the next year. Burke said Bill 82 also gave the province, “the right to make inquiries into the assets and liabilities of local governments affected by restructuring,” which would mean that himself and town staff would be required to cooperate with Chad Peters, the provincially-appointed facilitator.
Burke expressed disappointment that council would even consider putting him in the awkward situation of having to answer to the province and also Sackville town council, and flatly told them he would refuse to comply with the motion, if passed.
“You can pass any motion that you like, that’s your prerogative,” said Burke. “But you can’t force me to break the law. And I won’t.”
“We can’t use the corporation as a form of civil disobedience,” said Burke. “That is front and centre. So my advice to you would be not to pass this motion and put ourselves in this position.”
Burke’s plea seemed to have been heard, with a 7 to 1 vote against the motion. Even Sabine Dietz, who had previously stated she would back a boycott motion, declined support in the face of Burke’s concerns. Most councillors expressed their understanding of where Evans was coming from, but said they wanted to be at the table for discussions with the province.
Matt Estabrooks disagreed more strongly with Evans, and echoed Jamie Burke’s concern for legality.
“I feel this motion is presented with blatant disregard for the extremely difficult and potentially illegal position it puts our town of Sackville staff in,” said Estabrooks. “Our administration team is one of the best in the province, and this motion is throwing them and potentially their careers under the bus.”
Evans accepted the results of the vote even before it was taken, though he contested the idea that the motion would require illegal action.
“Nothing that I am advocating is advocating breaking the law,” said Evans. “To characterize anything that I have ever said as a councillor to indicate that I disrespect the competence of staff is so egregiously wrong.”
Evans said he had “but the highest regard” for town staff. “They are being put in an untenable situation and part of my job as a councillor is to protect them,” said Evans. “This has nothing to do with making them do something that they don’t want to do. It is us making a public statement that we don’t think they should be doing this.”
Councillors decided overwhelmingly against making that statement, and then discussion turned to a second motion put forward by Sabine Dietz, with a list of 8 demands for the province, including an extension of the timeline for decisions on council make-up, and a communications plan from the province which engages with citizens on amalgamation.
Dietz’s motion saw more support from council, with three of her colleagues backing it, Ken Hicks, Bill Evans, and Michael Tower. Hicks said he felt Dietz’s motion was “symbolic” and could send a clear message of disapproval to the province.
“As we unfortunately move forward with this process, we take the opportunities to voice our displeasure and get that information out there,” said Hicks. “And I see this motion as doing just that.”
Four councillors disagreed with Dietz’s symbolic motion, making it a tie vote. That left Mayor Shawn Mesheau to break the tie, and he defeated the motion.
Mesheau said he was concerned about the legalities of the move, but also agreed with Deputy Mayor Andrew Black, who suggested that some of the requests on Dietz’s list could be brought to Chad Peters without a formal motion from council.
A decision is expected any day on the make-up of the new Entity 40 council that will be elected in November of this year. On Tuesday night, facilitator Chad Peters met with the advisory committee made of up elected and appointed representatives from the five areas being amalgamated. There are now eight members on the committee, including two each from Sackville, the village of Dorchester, and Point de Bute, and one each from the Sackville Local Service District (LSD) and Dorchester LSD.
Entity 40 advisory committee, elected and appointed representatives
- Mayor Shawn Mesheau, Town of Sackville
- Deputy Mayor Andrew Black, Town of Sackville
- Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell, Village of Dorchester
- Deputy Mayor Robert Corkerton, Village of Dorchester
- Mary Ellen Trueman, Pointe de Bute LSD
- Greg Martin, Pointe de Bute LSD
- Chris Milner, Sackville LSD
- Matt Beal, Dorchester LSD (40%)
For details on the pros and cons of different council makeups, check out this story:
