Mayor walks out of meeting: Lack of quorum leaves LBA deal for new council
At approximately 7:50 p.m. Tuesday evening, Mayor John McKay stood up from his chair and walked out of city council chambers.
In so doing, he left a special council meeting without a quorum and the Lord Beaverbrook Arena deal up in the air.
"Council, I am going to withdraw from this and leave this matter for you to deal with," the mayor said before packing up his papers and walking out, effectively ending the meeting.
"There is no quorum," Coun. Marty McIntyre said as the mayor exited.
It had been expected that councillors would vote on a motion to authorize Deputy Mayor Rupert Bernard to sign off on a controversial buyout package for Lord Beaverbrook Arena manager Peter Nevin and an agreement to merge management of the two city rinks.
McKay has refused to sign the agreement passed at the March regular council meeting.
Councillors Ned Manderson, Lisa Harris, Rene Smith, Harry Hoekman and Reg Falconer, who are all opposed to the deal, did not attend the Tuesday meeting.
McIntyre said the lack of quorum showed a "lack of respect for the democratic process."
Bernard said he had hoped the issue would be dealt with before the election.
"It's a fairly unpleasant issue to leave a new council ... Obviously it's a staged lack of quorum," he said.
When asked what he thought of the mayor walking out and other councillors not attending the meeting, Bernard simply responded, "It's not for me to judge. It's for others to judge."
Rumours circulated earlier in the week that there might not be a quorum for the meeting, but McKay said in an interview Wednesday he was not aware of any coordinated plan.
"Not to my knowledge. We had only had one councillor who phoned and said he would not be able to make, it so we were expecting a larger turn out," he said.
The meeting did initially proceed for approximately 50 minutes, dealing with other items such as the city's 2007 financial statements and approval of management reports and minute meetings before McKay left.
"As I indicated, I was going to leave this to the council to decide what they wanted to do because it's a bit awkward for me to be presiding over a motion that would reduce my authority," he said.
In an interview Thursday, Coun. Ned Manderson also said he wasn't aware of any coordinated effort to ensure there was no quorum for the meeting. He said he decided on his own not to attend because he opposed the deal. He said he called McKay to tell him in advance he would not participate.
"[I told the mayor] I am officially informing you I will not be at that meeting and the reason I will not be at that meeting is, first of all, I do not support the action; I haven't changed in my position. It's almost to the point, in my opinion, of being irresponsible and a misuse and abuse of taxpayer dollars. So therefore I will not credit that particular table with being there if this atrocity is going to be perpetrated on this community," he said.
Smith said Thursday he did not attend because of prior commitments. He added that to his knowledge, Harris was away on a training course for her job.
The issue will now be left to the newly elected council to deal with. McKay said that is probably for the best.
"I think that the issue is so divisive and there are so many questions about it that it is only proper that it be left to a new council rather than being rushed through in the dying hours of the existing council," he said.
He also questioned why those pushing for the deal want it passed before the election.
"If the agreement, for those who defended it, is such a positive agreement, obviously the new council will see that. But if there's doubt, obviously the reason to have it put through in the last hours of the old council is there is doubt in the minds of those pushing the issue that the new council might not see the agreement as they see it," McKay said.
The issue involves a potential deal to transfer management of the LBA to the city. Under the existing agreement, the city holds the deed to the arena, but the Chatham Rink Association operates it. The city wants to merge management of the LBA with the Miramichi Civic Centre.
Existing LBA rink manager Nevin and city manager Doug Chase negotiated a buyout of Nevin's employment contract which was eventually approved by council, but the mayor has refused to sign it into law.
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However, the real issue here is that once again the shenanigans and Machiavellian ways of Rupert (you can trust me, I created the City) Bernard have been found totally repugnant by a fair number of councilors, who refuse to be played like a cheap tart. Bernard created this furor, same as he once created the foolish scheme to give his good friend Robbie Tozer a $7 million loan, and he got caught in his dirty act. Come on, fellow Miramichiers, we can do something about all of this on election day! Let's take of the blinders and move this City forward!
One would think that McKay would learn to keep himself out of the local papers, as his past opinions have landed him in a defamation of character lawsuit. Fortunately the tax payers of Miramichi will not have to pay damages as he was acting well beyond the scope of his duties as Mayor when the comments were made. His feelings of self-importance will not be missed, and neither will his lies and deceit.