By Craig Westcott
Witless Bay council evicted a rookie councillor Tuesday, but the decision wasn't unanimous, and it wasn't clear that Margaret Swain had even violated the conflict-of-interest rules as she was accused of doing by a fellow councillor.
The grounds for the eviction date back to Swain's first council meeting just after she was elected by acclamation in November last year.
Swain attended a planning meeting ahead of her first official council meeting. At the planning meeting, when the subject of a proposed rezoning for a Crown Land Reserve for the Ragged Beach area came up, Swain allegedly indicated she wouldn't be voting on the matter, because she had a friend with property in the area.
It’s uncertain what Swain actually said, because there were no minutes kept of the meeting.
However, when the issue of the Crown Land Reserve arose at the public council meeting the next day, Swain made a motion asking to delay the vote so that she could have some time to get up to speed on the issue.
Her motion passed unanimously. And at the public council meeting held the following month, Swain voted with the rest of council to rezone the land for the reserve. However, two months later, in a private council meeting on January 30, councillor Ralph Carey accused Swain of having been in a conflict of interest when she asked for the delay at her first council meeting.
Council voted 4-2 Tuesday to evict Swain and declare her seat vacant. The motion to fire her was made by Carey, seconded by councillor Gerard Dunne, and supported by Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard and her husband and fellow councillor Alan Richards. Mayor Trevor Croft and councillor Jacob Hayden voted against the motion to fire Swain.
The motion to declare Swain in conflict and a follow up motion to vacate her seat were actually made at another private meeting of council on February 12 at which Swain was not present. Swain had been given a chance to answer the charge at the January 30 private meeting, but after a long discussion the meeting was adjourned without an outcome.
This week's public meeting formalized the two decisions of February 12 by ratifying them publicly with the vote again breaking down the same way, 4-2 against Swain.
"Councillor Swain, you are required to vacate your seat," said Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Aspell, who offered her the chance to watch the rest of the meeting as a spectator in the gallery, which Swain did.
In an ironic moment later in the meeting, Carey, who led the charge to toss Swain off council, eschewed any thought of himself declaring a conflict by making a motion to have construction work done on the road where he lives.
In most municipalities, councillors refrain from voting on roadwork affecting their own streets, or even streets where their relatives live, because of a potential conflict of interest considering such improvements could improve property values.
According to Section 5.1.a of the Municipalities Act, “A municipal official has a conflict of interest where in the making, or involvement in the making, of a decision… a decision may affect, directly or indirectly, a private interest where the decision may result in a gain or loss to the municipal official’s private interests, or the private interests of a relative.”
After councillor Dunne asked council for a ruling on whether he was in a conflict because he lives near Dunn’s Lane, Carey indicated he wouldn’t be bothering with such a request.
"What we're planning on doing is making a motion to devise a scope of work, so I don't see it being an issue," said Carey. "I live on Dunn's Lane and I'm not going to be (declaring a conflict). There's more than one person on council who lives on Dunn's Lane.”
In fact, Carey is the only member of council to live on the street.
Carey then moved that council "obtain price estimates for road infrastructure work to be completed at Dunn's Lane."
His motion passed unanimously.
After the meeting, Mayor Croft admitted he was uncomfortable with the motion to fire Swain, because it wasn't clear she had actually declared a conflict of interest in the first place.
Croft said he wasn't at the planning meeting when Swain is said to have indicated she planned to declare a conflict of interest on the Crown Land Reserve. He confirmed Swain had not been given any training in the Municipal Code of Conduct prior to her first public council meeting. And the fact she supposedly declared a conflict at a planning meeting, and not at an actual council meeting, also raises questions about the validity of council's decision to fire her, he suggested.
"That's where it's up in the air for me personally," said the mayor. “Because technically it is a meeting of council, but at the same time it's not a formal, formal meeting, because there are no minutes being taken.... I voted against this because it wasn't clear to me that a planning meeting should be a formal meeting if you don't take minutes. That's why I voted against it, personally. And I mean, it was her first meeting."
Croft said the Town did ask the Department of Municipal Affairs for advice on Carey’s allegation against Swain. But neither Croft or CAO Aspell would disclose the department’s response. They did confirm that no legal advice was taken.
Asked for his reaction to what had the appearance of a kangaroo court, Mayor Croft allowed he was disappointed at what had just occurred.
"I know councillor Hayden is as well," said the mayor. "We were against it. It wasn't clear cut for us. That's why we voted against it. I can't speak for any other councillors."
Croft wouldn't speculate on whether the move to oust Swain was an effort by Yard, Carey and their supporters to remove someone they perceived as not being fully on board with their long running campaign against private landowners near Ragged Beach.
"I can't speculate on it," said Croft.
It is illegal under the Municipal Conduct Act, which was passed by the Province in 2022, to make allegations of conflict of interest against fellow councillors in bad faith.
“A councillor or municipal official shall not file a complaint under this policy which is retributive, made in bad faith, or with malicious intent,” according to the guidebook for municipal councillors.
"It's not something I ever like doing, vacating the seat of a councillor,” said Mayor Croft. “It shines a lot of bad light on the town when we have a lot of good stuff going for us. Personally, I don't think it was a strong enough case to evict the seat, but I got outvoted. That's pretty much all I can really say."
