Rocky View County (RVC) council will discuss at their July 20 meeting whether or not to withdraw their appeal of a Court of Queen’s Bench justice’s verdict last year to set aside sanctions on three council members.
At the July 6 council meeting, Coun. Crystal Kissel introduced a notice of motion to withdraw council’s appeal of Kissel et al vs. Rocky View County, due to a backlog in the court system, the impending municipal election and other reasons.
According to the notice of motion, the topic will be debated at the July 20 council meeting.
Kissel’s notice of motion refers to the County’s decision on July 28, 2020 to appeal the verdict issued by Justice James Eamon to set aside sanctions previously imposed on on Couns. Kissel, Kevin Hanson and Samanntha Wright. The verdict was announced on July 15 last year.
RVC council approved the appeal of Eamon's decision after council voted 7-2 in favour of directing County staff to proceed with the action. Kissel and Wright provided the sole votes against the motion, while Hanson said he was unclear at the time what council was voting on.
Coun. Al Schule, who made that motion, said he felt Eamon’s ruling was not “clear cut,” and added the judge recognized the sanctions were “fitting.”
“It frightens me when councillors don’t have to abide by the Municipal Government Act (MGA) and the Code of Conduct we all agree to,” he said. “If councillors don’t have to follow our own policies and the MGA, why do we have them in there?”
The sanctions were imposed after the three councillors were accused of breaching council’s Code of Conduct, after they submitted a letter to the editor to the Rocky View Weekly that the rest of council deemed used discourteous and disrespectful language. The letter claimed the County’s process for hiring former Chief Administrative Officer Al Hoggan, who left the position earlier this year, was “flawed.”
The sanctions required the three councillors to publicly apologize, restricted their ability to travel on behalf of and represent RVC, removed them from all council committees and bodies, decreased their remuneration by 30 per cent and limited their contact with County staff.
After Justice Eamon set the sanctions aside, the three councillors sued RVC for $96,000 in back pay in March 2021, arguing they should be reimbursed for the lost wages. The $32,000 being sought by each councillor reflects their reduced pay over the 13-month period they were sanctioned.
According to Kissel’s notice of motion, the backlog in Alberta’s court system means there is no ability to have the County’s appeal heard before spring 2022. Her motion also argues that, since RVC is reducing its number of councillors from nine to seven members, the next council elected this October will not sit as it currently does.
She also pointed out the appeal is not covered by the County’s insurance, and that all the sanctions, other than a communication-related restriction, have already expired.
