The Strait Shores municipal government will not confirm or deny whether its mayor and two councillors have resigned their positions, but CHMA has learned that all three have resigned, and another councillor has been banned from entering the municipal office, leaving the council unable to function.
Councillor Andy MacGregor says he first learned of the resignation of Mayor Jason Stokes on February 20, 2025, in a special meeting of council chaired by Deputy Mayor Annamarie Boyd.
The meeting had been called to discuss a code of conduct complaint levied at MacGregor, and included the Strait Shores CAO, Clerk, and all council members except for Mayor Jason Stokes.
“At the onset of that meeting, Councillor Boyd, who was deputy mayor, read a statement saying that Mayor Stokes had resigned, and as a result of that resignation, she would be assuming the position of mayor moving forward,” said MacGregor in an interview Monday.
MacGregor says he was surprised to learn of Stokes’ resignation.
No notice of the resignation has yet been posted by the municipality, and Mayor Stokes has not responded to email enquiries sent by CHMA, though Strait Shores CAO Donna Hipditch did reply to one message sent to the mayor’s email address.
MacGregor sanctioned by council on Feb 20
After Deputy Mayor Annamarie Boyd announced Stokes resignation on February 20, the meeting then moved in camera to discuss the code of conduct complaint. Those proceedings were held in private under a section of the Local Government Act which allows municipal councils to discuss human resources matters out of public scrutiny.
After the closed, in camera session ended, council then proceeded to pass a motion publicly, which included strong sanctions against MacGregor and a call for a third party investigation in the complaint.
“They came to the conclusion that I would be forbidden from contacting any municipal staff, member councillors,” said MacGregor. “I would be forbidden from entering the municipal office and as a result of that, not allowed to attend council meetings.”
The effect of the sanctions, says MacGregor, is that he will not be able to “fulfill my obligation as a councillor to the people of Strait Shores.”
The sanctions against MacGregor fall outside of those defined in the Strait Shores code of conduct bylaw, and it’s not clear if they are legal.
CHMA has requested a copy of the motion or motions passed on Feburary 20, but Strait Shores clerk Angela Grant denied the request Monday, based on the fact that part of the meeting was held in camera.
MacGregor says he also has not received a copy of the exact motion. “I’ve asked for all this to be put down on paper so I can have a look at it and better understand it,” says MacGregor, “and that hasn’t happened yet.”
Two more resignations
While MacGregor was at CHMA for an interview on Monday afternoon, he received two emails from fellow councillors Stacy Jones and Tanya Hanes, both announcing their respective resignations from the small municipal council. Jones and Hanes had the two votes in favour of the code of conduct sanctions against MacGregor on February 20. Deputy Mayor Annemarie Boyd did not vote as chair of the meeting, and MacGregor did not vote because he was the subject of the complaint.
CHMA reached out to Jones and Haynes for comment on why they decided to resign on Monday. Haynes has not yet replied, and Jones replied to say she had no further comment.
MacGregor is new to the Strait Shores municipal council, winning a by-election in December and being sworn in at a meeting in January. At his first regular meeting, the new councillor brought forward 12 different motions, many of which concerned the policies and procedures of how the municipality and its municipal council run. At the end of the sometimes tense meeting, MacGregor also made a statement, asserting the power of the council to run the municipality.
“Make no mistake, the four elected Strait Shores councillors have all the power and all the authority vested in the governance of Strait Shores,” said MacGregor on February 10. “We just have to exercise it.”
MacGregor says he is concerned that the sanctions motion from February 20 goes beyond what is listed in the municipality’s code of conduct bylaw, which is available on the Strait Shores website.
The bylaw outlines options for council when considering a complaint, including dismissing the complaint, requesting a legal opinion, requesting an investigation, or, “if the complaint is determined to be valid by the majority of Council or through independent legal advice, Council may impose sanctions, defining the specific action to be taken by a motion.”
The next section of the by-law outlines the sanctions that council may impose:
- A letter of reprimand;
- Requesting a letter of apology;
- Requesting to attend training;
- Suspension or removal of the Mayor or Deputy Mayor as official spokesperson for the Council;
- Suspension or removal from some or all Council committees and bodies to which Council has the right to appoint members;
- Restricting the privileges of attending conferences and workshops at Strait Shores’ expense;
- Reduction or suspension of remuneration as Council may deem appropriate.
The bylaw “lays it all out,” says MacGregor. “This is what you can do. And I mean, nowhere does it say you can strip somebody of their democratically bestowed right to represent the taxpayers of your community. I mean, that’s absurd. This whole thing is absurd.”
Municipal government expert and politics professor Geoff Martin says that while provincial governments have the power to remove councillors from duty, municipal councils themselves do not.
How soon can new councillors be elected?
Martin says that the situation in Strait Shores could leave the municipality with a provincially appointed supervisor instead of an elected council.
“It sounds like we’re inevitably looking at the appointment of an administrator to come in and run things for a certain period of time until a new council can be constituted,” says Martin.
That period of time could last until May 2026, when province-wide municipal elections are due to be held.
There is one earlier opportunity to fill the three vacant Strait Shores council seats: a by-election scheduled for April 14 by Elections NB. But in order for Strait Shores to be included in that by-election, the agency requires a copy of a council resolution declaring the vacancies by Friday, February 28. But after the resignations of Stokes, Jones, and Haynes, such a resolution is no longer possible.
Martin says he hopes there is a workaround for the situation. In the case of a “resignation ‘en masse’ situation which denies a quorum to the council, then there must be a provision that allows the municipal staff to inform the provincial government that there are openings, and then they need to get them on the by-election list for April.”
Otherwise, says Martin, the municipality will have to make do with a provincial administrator to “run things for 14 months or 15 months, which is not a good situation.”
CHMA enquiries with government agencies have turned up no provision that might provide a pathway for Strait Shores to get included in April 14 by-elections. An Elections NB spokesperson re-stated the requirement for a council resolution by February 28, and referred us to the department of local government. A spokesperson from that department in turn referred CHMA to the newly formed Local Governance Commission. And commission director Mary Oley told CHMA via email that, “in the case of mass resignations that result in a loss of quorum, Elections NB directly advises the Commission,” and did not address the problem of how a defunct council can inform Elections NB.
‘We need help’
Strait Shores Deputy Mayor Annamarie Boyd told CHMA Monday that she had no comment because events were fluid, and she did not want to give false information. Boyd indicated she was reaching out for further information and would eventually be available to share details with residents.
MacGregor says he has been in touch with the Department of Environment and Local Government and is hoping the department can “extend a little leadership and expertise here and help us.”
“We need help to get through this,” said MacGregor. “We can get through it, but we need help. We can’t, obviously, do it on our own. So, like I said, I’ve sent emails, phone calls, and I just hope to God, we hear something back from them soon.”
