Another twist at Lunenburg Town Council.
At the most recent meeting Councillor Brian Davis presented a legal opinion that council erred when they removed him from all committees.
Davis says he met with attorney Heidi Walsh Sampson from Patterson Law in Truro.
“I got the legal opinion of what they did. They had no justification for doing it. The Municipal Government Act wouldn’t support that kind of a thing.”
Davis feels he can’t fulfil his obligations to the people who elected him if he isn’t permitted to participate in committee work.
“To take a councillor off of the general government committee and the audit committee when the budgets are being determined – that’s a concern.”
Davis says he will be filing for a judicial review.
Whether he proceeds with that will depend on how council responds to his request to be reinstated to the committees.
If council doesn’t agree, he says his first step will be to contact the ombudsman.
Meanwhile,
The actions of Councillor Davis came as a surprise to council.
Mayor Rachel Bailey stands by council’s decision to remove Councillor Davis from committee work.
“We’re perfectly comfortable with the decision that was made by council. I don’t know that there is a need to reconsider that decision and I’m not speculating that we will.”
Bailey says she isn’t phased by Davis’ intention to bring the situation to the ombudsman.
“I would welcome someone from the ombudsman’s office to come and look at the situation. We considered calling them ourselves.”
Bailey is concerned about how many resources and how much money has been spent to satisfy Davis’ concerns.
She says council works hard to be accountable and transparent and she worries the amount of publicity this situation has generated is harming the town’s reputation.
