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Embattled Clarence-Rockland Mayor Marcel Guibord may have more trouble at the office after a legal opinion concluded that his decision to change the venue for council meetings went against the town’s own bylaws, and that it has left all council business in the past three months open to challenges of being null and void.
The town council meetings were so unruly that the mayor and some councillors met last year to talk about giving bylaw officers the power to arrest citizens.
But so far, its citizens have been spared arrest — unlike some of their elected leaders.
?Mayor Guibord, Coun. Diane Choinière, and Coun. Guy Félio, along with lawyer Stéphane Lalonde, were all charged with breach of trust after a two-year investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police anti-rackets squad.?
The mayor’s latest trouble comes after some citizens claimed the change in venue — a much smaller chambers located 15 minutes from town hall — was designed to limit public access to the council meetings.
“In my opinion, it was a convenient way for them (mayor and council) to keep the public out of the room. How many cities have council meetings outside of city hall?” said Pierre Page, a consultant for CUPE 503 who sought the legal opinion from David Jewitt, of Jewitt McLuckie & Associates after hearing complaints from citizens.
The old, and much bigger chambers, is now being used as offices for staff.
“They put the staff before the citizens,” said Page, who noted that the vast majority of residents live in Rockland, not Clarence Creek, where the meetings are now held.
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
The town council meetings were so unruly that the mayor and some councillors met last year to talk about giving bylaw officers the power to arrest citizens.
But so far, its citizens have been spared arrest — unlike some of their elected leaders.
?Mayor Guibord, Coun. Diane Choinière, and Coun. Guy Félio, along with lawyer Stéphane Lalonde, were all charged with breach of trust after a two-year investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police anti-rackets squad.?
The mayor’s latest trouble comes after some citizens claimed the change in venue — a much smaller chambers located 15 minutes from town hall — was designed to limit public access to the council meetings.
“In my opinion, it was a convenient way for them (mayor and council) to keep the public out of the room. How many cities have council meetings outside of city hall?” said Pierre Page, a consultant for CUPE 503 who sought the legal opinion from David Jewitt, of Jewitt McLuckie & Associates after hearing complaints from citizens.
The old, and much bigger chambers, is now being used as offices for staff.
“They put the staff before the citizens,” said Page, who noted that the vast majority of residents live in Rockland, not Clarence Creek, where the meetings are now held.
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
