Earlier this week — and only a week before a byelection — the city sued the ex-mayor and councillors for $650,000 in spending that allegedly occurred without proper approval
Chestermere’s fired mayor and councillors are spurning claims they spent upwards of $650,000 in taxpayer dollars without the necessary approvals, as a lawsuit filed by the municipality this week alleges.
“All allegations in the statement of claim are denied,” said lawyer Jeff Moroz, who’s representing ousted Chestermere mayor Jeff Colvin and former councillors Mel Foat, Blaine Funk and Stephen Hanley, all of whom were removed from office by the Alberta government last year.
“It is important to note the statement of claim was authorized by those appointed by the province, one day after the advanced polling and some four days before the byelection,” Moroz said in an email to Postmedia.
In a Facebook post Wednesday evening, Colvin said McIver — who has no role in the lawsuit — and the province-installed leadership who authorized the legal action, interim chief administrative officer Pat Vincent and official administrator Doug Lagore, are “abusing their power to attempt to influence the by-election.”
“This is completely illegal during the writ period after an election has been called,” Colvin wrote.
Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams said Chestermere launching a lawsuit against a candidate during a byelection campaign “does raise questions.”
“On the other hand, others might argue that it’s important that voters be fully informed of the issues that might be relevant to casting an informed ballot,” said Williams.
“But ultimately, since it is a lawsuit, and the results have not yet been determined, I think there are questions to be raised about whether this should have happened a few days before the byelection is scheduled.”
Colvin tackles allegations
On Facebook — where his account still refers to him as “Mayor Jeff Colvin” — the ex-mayor went over each allegation in the lawsuit, stating that they were either budgeted expenses or authorized by one of the city’s three CAOs.
“In summary, the actions they claim were carried out by the mayor were, in fact, executed by our CAOs following their approved budgets and their duties as CAO,” Colvin said. “McIver and Lagore are wrongfully attributing these actions to the mayor.”
The city’s claims have yet to be tested in court, and a statement of defence has not yet been filed.
Judicial review ongoing
Moroz says his clients’ legal action against McIver remains ongoing. The four men continue to seek a judicial review of the minister’s dismissal order in a bid to have it overturned, but Moroz says the province has yet to provide a record of evidence against his clients as the courts have ordered.
“If there was such compelling evidence of wrongdoing, it should be obvious the minister would have a file that could easily be produced,” he said.
“In our respectful view, one person should not be able to simply remove the councillors and CAOs that were duly elected by the citizens of Chestermere. The people should be the ones who decide, not one person alone. This is the antithesis of democracy, which must be stopped.”
Said Colvin: “We will easily win our judicial review against McIver and Municipal Affairs, as we have the evidence. McIver has been in breach of a court order for six months to provide us with actual evidence rather than just lip service.”
With the byelection happening next week, it’s unclear how a judgement in favour of the four beleaguered politicians would play out — with the results of a new vote not likely to be overturned.
“Both publicly and legally, I think this is going to continue; the allegations and the objections are going to continue,” said Williams. “We can imagine what might happen if they were to succeed in court, I’m just having a hard time imagining that they would be.”
Three councillors were spared from McIver’s dismissals, but Coun. Ritesh Narayan will be the only one to join the city’s new council following the election. Sandy Johal-Watt resigned shortly after the dismissals and later took a job in city administration, while Shannon Dean stepped down last month to run for mayor.
Four candidates are running for mayor — Colvin, Dean, Marshall Chalmers and Christopher Steeves — and 23 are vying for five open council seats.