Four of the City of Chestermere’s municipal councillors and all three chief administrative officers (CAOs) were officially dismissed through a ministerial order from Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver.
A release from the province stated that after the city failed to comply with the supervision of the official administrator and some of the minister’s directives that have been in place since March 15, 2023, Minister McIver has dismissed Mayor Jeff Colvin, Coun. Mel Foat, Coun. Blaine Funk and Coun. Stephen Hanley, as well as the three CAOs.
The directives, intended to restore good governance to the City of Chestermere, were issued following a municipal inspection. Since then, the city has continued to be managed in an irregular, improper and improvident manner, according to the province.
“The directives issued by my predecessor are not onerous and represent the bare minimum that citizens ought to expect from their municipal government," stated McIver in the Dec. 4 press release. "However, after undertaking all reasonable efforts to have the city comply with its obligations, it has failed to do so. I am profoundly disappointed that it has come to this, but the people of Chestermere deserve better. This community should be able to have trust in its local elected government.”
While the minister determined that the city has failed to comply with its obligations, he also determined that dismissal of Coun. Shannon Dean, Coun. Sandy Johal-Watt and Coun. Ritesh Narayan was not justified given their efforts to hold council to account and attempt to move council in a more positive direction toward proper governance practices and compliance with legislation.
Councillors Dean, Johal-Watt and Narayan remain as elected councillors but will have no role in the governance of the city until a byelection is held and council quorum is restored.
The ministerial order dismissing Chestermere council members and senior administration is effective Dec. 4.
An official administrator and interim CAO are in place to oversee the City of Chestermere’s governance and operations until a byelection is held to elect new councillors for the vacant positions at a date to be determined in 2024.
A municipal inspection was ordered by the minister of Municipal Affairs under the Municipal Government Act (Section 571) in May 2022.
This independent inspection, which concluded in September 2022, found the City of Chestermere to be managed in an irregular, improper and improvident manner, according to the Province.
An official administrator was appointed in September 2022 to supervise the municipality and its council.
On March 15, 2023, the minister of Municipal Affairs issued 12 binding directives through a ministerial order requiring the City of Chestermere to take action to address key areas of concern.
On Oct. 18, McIver issued to the City of Chestermere a notice of intent to issue a ministerial order which would dismiss all seven council members from office, as well as all three CAOs.
Two weeks ago, the City of Chestermere posted on their website: “The facts are that council, the CAOs and the City are operating as usual and that will not change as we approach the 2023 year end."
Before he was dismissed, Mayor Colvin also wrote on the website, "It is council and CAOs’ sincere belief (that) the truth must come out for this entire situation to finally be resolved. Residents deserve to have our past cleaned up, to strengthen our future. Council remains committed to completing our important goals for all residents and keeping our high level of performance functioning. We will continue to focus on working extra hard to get our schools built, our recreation facilities, with rinks and the City’s first pool by the end of our term.”
