A third member of Strait Shores council has resigned, leaving the troubled municipal council without a quorum and unable to function.
Councillor Tanya Haynes sent in her resignation by email on Saturday morning, according to Strait Shores CAO Donna Hipditch. Haynes’ resignation follows that of former councillor Stacy Jones on March 26, and former mayor Jason Stokes on February 13.
Hipditch says she has contacted New Brunswick’s Local Governance Commission (LGC), and expects the commission to appoint a supervisor to take over the decision making role for the municipality in the coming days or weeks.
This is the second time Haynes has emailed a resignation, previously doing so on February 24, before rescinding that letter days later. This time, Hipditch told CHMA, the resignation letter has been signed by Haynes and reported to the commission.
Hipditch says she is waiting for direction from the commission before posting resignation letters from both Haynes and Jones. Stokes’ letter was posted publicly on Facebook in February.
Haynes resignation came just days after the Local Governance Commission issued a report finding that the municipality had breached its own code of conduct bylaw in its recent sanctioning of Councillor Andy MacGregor. The report also recommended all councillors and staff of the municipality undergo training.
The LGC report came on the heals of a human resources consultant’s report which recommended mediation between all council and staff members. Hipditch says planning for that mediation was underway before Haynes resigned Saturday.
The seats left vacant by Haynes, Jones, and Stokes cannot be filled in by-elections, since Elections NB will not run any by-elections in the year leading up to the next general municipal elections across the province, slated for May 11, 2026.
Local Governance Commission director Mary Oley told CHMA by email that after the appointment of a supervisor there will be no council meetings, and “decisions that would normally be made by council will be made by the supervisor.”
Oley also said all costs associated with a supervisor will be the responsibility of Strait Shores.
LGC report finds breaches “not malicious”
The Local Governance Commission report published Wednesday came in response to a complaint filed by Councillor Andy MacGregor, who alleged unfair treatment in the way Strait Shores council suspended him in a resolution passed on February 20. The LGC found that there was not enough detail about the nature and specifics of the informal complaints against MacGregor, and that the suspension of MacGregor was not an available sanction under the Strait Shores by-law. The report recommended MacGregor’s suspension be lifted.
The commission also found that the by-law breaches by Haynes, Jones, and Boyd were not malicious, but the product of misunderstanding or lack of knowledge. The report reads:
“The Respondents did not follow the procedures for receiving/filing, investigating and deciding complaints under section 4 of the Code of Conduct By-Law, and did not complete any of the required steps before sanctioning Complainant MacGregor. This demonstrates a lack of understanding of Strait Shores’s own Code of Conduct By-Law and process, and the principles of procedural fairness.”
The report recommends that, “the entire Strait Shores council, including Complainant MacGregor, undertake code of conduct, governance, and procedural fairness training.”
MacGregor told CHMA last week that he “wholeheartedly” supported the recommendations.
CHMA has reached out to Deputy Mayor Annamarie Boyd for comment, but have received no response.
