EDMONTON – Three members of Thorhild County Council who were let go from their positions earlier this week will remain on duty until at least next Friday, after a temporary injunction was granted by a judge Friday afternoon.
The Alberta government dismissed the members following long-standing concerns about infighting, conflict of interest and poor decision-making that included hiring the janitor to demolish a local school.
Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee announced Thursday that three of the five councillors of Thorhild County, northeast of Edmonton, were let go after they refused to comply with a directive to hire a chief administrative officer with experience.
“Following a very long series of interactions with them, it’s gotten to the point where I’ve been forced to say that the only way I can restore orderly, responsible government to Thorhild is to remove the three individuals,” Larivee told reporters at the legislature.
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The government said rather than pick from a government-approved shortlist of administrators, the three councillors instead hired former Conservative MP Brian Storseth in February.
“(They) chose to hire someone who was not on that list (after) the HR firm made it clear that that individual did not have the skills and experience to fulfil that (post), said Larivee.
Reeve Dan Buryn, councillors Wayne Croswell and Larry Sisson were the three relieved of their duties.
“Farmer inspection report is just full of false information and accusations that were not supported by facts,” Croswell said, adding this was one of the best councils the county has seen in a while.
When reached for comment, Thorhild County’s communications representative told Global News they will let the minister’s comments stand.
Watch below: Alberta fires majority of Thorhild County county council
The issue dates back almost two years, to June 2014, when the province received a petition from 776 county residents, about 20 per cent of the population, urging an inquiry into how the county was being governed.
“We were only on council for eight months when this petition started and our new CAO that we hired, she was only working for a little over a couple months when it started,” Croswell said.
The government eventually hired a third-party firm, which last September submitted a report that painted a picture of a fractured council wracked by infighting.
The firm reported the exchange of angry, accusatory, occasionally offensive emails, with councillors publicly challenging each other to “settle conflicts outside.”
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They noted the council hired a chief administrative officer at $151,000 a year despite the person having no experience in the field. She was also a travel buddy of two of the councillors and was connected to a group lobbying the council on a landfill issue.
In the case of a resident who wanted reimbursement for fixing a frozen sewer line, the council made five conflicting resolutions on the issue.
In 2014, a public works employee was reported to have been seen with a copy of the petition used to demand government investigation of the council. The worker was suspended without pay, then suspended with pay, then rehired with no information on why his suspension had been overturned.
The county handed the contract of demolition of an abandoned school to the county janitor. Residents were allowed to walk into the school and strip it of doors, whiteboards and other amenities for free. Hazardous materials were to be burned in an open pit until the Environment Department stepped in.
When the council objected to news coverage by the local Redwater Review, it entered into a $58,000 contract to bring in the Westlock News.
“Elected officials should not use the power of the public purse as a means to control a free media,” read the report.
Larivee said after the report, the province worked with the council to fix its problems but said the Storseth hiring was the last straw.
With files from Global News.
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