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Germain files breach of governance which was to be reviewed at council Tuesday before it was removed from the agenda
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Multiplex to cost taxpayers $50 million and plans do not include anything above a recreational facility
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Council approved the plan based on the belief there would be an AHS nursing station, by-law offices and an RCMP station
Legal staff is looking into a breach of governance filed by Councillor Sheldon Germain in regards to the Conklin Multiplex, a building that when council approved it was supposed to include a nursing station, by-law offices and an RCMP station.
But none of those are included in the plans for the $50 million project.
“When I reviewed in Oversight Committee last Thursday and saw the operational plan for the Conklin Multiplex it did not jive with what was being told to council at the time of debate. So, when I asked some questions it became more and more apparent that there was quite a bridge there that I needed to span,” said Germain.
He spoke to some of his colleagues and then filed the breach of governance. The review was supposed to come to council at the November 3 meeting but Germain was told the agenda committee decided the item was not a priority.
“It’s unfortunate that it is not on the agenda. I know many members of council are very concerned with this breach of governance and were waiting to hear the legal review,” he said.
Germain said he was told only Mayor Melissa Blake and Councillor Jane Stroud were present at the agenda committee review.
He does not know when he will hear back from the legal team on the review of the breach of governance that he filed.
He explained the breach he believes occurred, “simply means there was the wrong information at the time of debate and you can’t have a proper discussion at a governance level when you’re dealing with the wrong information.”
He questioned why the other levels of government weren’t involved considering the space in question would have been used by them.
“The province should have come to the table in paying for the capital space and the operation space and that hadn’t happened so that’s where I filed my concern,” he said.
“My premise is if you don’t have the right information, you can’t make the right decision and, unfortunately, people voted on the project believing that there was a component of a police station or police offices, by-law offices and a nursing station. When I reviewed that in oversight committee they had no inclusion of those factors or no agreements in place,” said Germain.
“So, it was kind of disconcerting to me and I felt like, you know, quite frankly, that we needed to follow up and get the right information before a decision could be made,” he said.
Germain is concerned there may have been a willful misleading of council in order to get the plan approved and that there was never an intention to include the components that were brought up in debate.
But Mayor Melissa Blake has said there was neither breach of governance nor a willful misleading, only the discussion of a possibility for the space to include these kinds of functions. She said were there to be a breach of governance there would have to be a question about how the decision came to be.
Speaking to other local media the Mayor said there are often cases with rural facilities where the option for leases to provincial services are explored without it being set in stone and she said that was the case during debate.
But Germain believes there is an issue with how the decision came to be because council was sold on a facility that would include those components.
“A conscious misleading, a misrepresentation, a wrong, whatever you want to call it, call it, if the mayor chooses not to call it governance that’s fine, the bottom line is the wrong information was entered into the public debate at council meeting at the time of decision and I believe it’s a breach of governance,” said Germain.
Germain said he was conscious of having been accused of having a “sour grapes” attitude about the project or some reason not to want to build it but he said he was simply asking questions that needed to be asked about a multi-million dollar expenditure and making sure all of the correct information was in place.
“You can’t do that to the public, say one thing and then not deliver, or don’t say one thing and then all of a sudden have it included and I don’t see that as a detail I see that as a pretty fundamental tenet to democracy,” said Germain.
He said he’s not sure what will happen if he’s correct and legal counsel finds there was a breach. That will be decided when council hears back from legal counsel. That was supposed to happen at Tuesday’s council meeting but the item has since been removed from the agenda.
