Judge slams attempt by RM, local urban district committee to give rookie councillor the boot

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This article was published 15/02/2024 (652 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge has issued a stinging rebuke to a rural municipality and local urban district committee, dismissing their bid to oust a rookie councillor after she missed three committee meetings scheduled during her regular working hours.

“This matter is anything but an example of collective responsibility, consensus governing and leadership of elected officials,” King’s Bench Justice Chris Martin wrote in a recently released ruling.

“Council did not extend simple courtesies so that every councillor chosen by voters could rightfully fulfil their mandate,” Martin said. “Collectively on this issue, all members of council and committee fell well short of facilitating good governance as common sense and collegiality would demand.”

Last year, the Rural Municipality of Thompson and Local Urban District of Miami Committee made an application under the Municipal Act to disqualify first-time councillor Donna Cox and declare her position vacant after she missed three consecutive committee meetings.

Cox, previously a longtime school trustee, was elected Ward 2 councillor in October 2022. Ward 2 includes the town of Miami. With her election, Cox automatically became a member of the LUD of Miami Committee, and was appointed to five other committees.

Court heard evidence that shortly after the election, RM council passed a bylaw changing the start times of its regular council meetings from alternating 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. start times to 9:30 a.m. exclusively.

Cox, who works for the provincial government and the only one of six RM councillors to vote against the change, told council if the change went ahead she would be able to attend only one council meeting a month because her employer would not approve additional time off.

The LUD committee later voted to change its meeting start time to 9:30 a.m. as well, where previously the sessions had been held over the lunch hour or early afternoon.

Reeve Brian Callum testified that changing the meeting times “worked best for the majority” of council members.

“I find that when making the changes, council and committee knew Ms. Cox would be adversely impacted, if not precluded from fully attending and participating,” and made the changes for “convenience reasons,” Martin said. “Council members were unwilling to continue with one monthly 5 p.m. meeting, despite council having done so during the prior four-year period.”

Cox missed three consecutive committee meetings between Jan. 18 and March 15, 2023, cause for disqualification under the Municipal Act.

At an April 19 meeting, the committee passed a motion resolving not to approve Cox’s absences. Cox was not present and was not provided notice that the motion was under consideration.

At an April 26 noon-hour council meeting, Cox was told she was disqualified from council and could not participate. In a subsequent email to council, Cox argued she had been “100 per cent transparent about (her) availability” and that council “demonstrated zero consideration to (her) and (her) work schedule as an elected official.”

Cox suggested mediation, which council rejected.

“To be clear, I have no doubt that when council and committee made changes to their schedules, and passed the disqualification resolutions… they knew Ms. Cox could not, because of her employment, attend meetings the way the council or committee set them up,” Martin said.

In May, the municipality was advised by the deputy minister for municipal relations that under the Municipal Act, only a Court of King’s Bench justice could make a determination that a councillor be disqualified. The municipality disagreed, and continued to refuse Cox access to councillor resources, Martin said.

Martin rejected the RM’s claim meeting times were changed to convenience council members. While several council members had full-time jobs, they worked for themselves in businesses they owned.

“The degree of flexibility they have, being their own boss, is in no way equivalent to the lack of flexibility Ms. Cox had,” Martin said. “It was disingenuous to offer this excuse.”

Voters elected Cox and, as their representative, should have been provided whatever help she needed to carry out her duties, Martin said.

“Any council or committee has the responsibility to all voters to work with elected representatives to assist them in fulfilling their obligations to the voters and the municipality,” Martin said. “A municipality cannot, in a situation such as this, in effect, obstruct a councillor and disenfranchise voters by taking actions it knows, or should reasonably know, will preclude the elected representative from fulfilling their function.”

Contacted for comment Wednesday, Cox said only: “I have every intention of fulfilling my duties.”

As of Thursday, the RM of Thompson website again lists Cox as a councillor for Ward 2. Her name was not listed Wednesday afternoon.

Reeve Brian Callum said in an email Thursday that the municipality’s council “acted in accordance with the provisions of The Municipal Act, as well as our duties and obligations to our ratepayers when a councillor has failed to attend meetings and missed three consecutive meetings. We are considering our appeal options.”

A representative with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities declined comment.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca