Town of Athabasca council unanimously rejected a request by former mayor Roger Morrill and former councillor Timothy Verhaeghe to release a legal opinion regarding the 2016 attempts to disqualify them from council.
Town of Athabasca council unanimously rejected a request by former mayor Roger Morrill and former councillor Timothy Verhaeghe to release a legal opinion regarding the 2016 attempts to disqualify them from council.
The legal opinion, which remains a document not on public record, was sought by the previous council to judge whether there were legal grounds to disqualify Morrill and Verhaeghe from council.
The new town council passed the motion without discussion during its regular meeting Nov. 7 after an in-camera session.
Verhaeghe said he believed that because the town paid for the legal opinion, the public has the right to know what it says.
“If there was any question with regards to my integrity, which goes to my reputation - I'd want those questions to be answered, ” he said.
The legal opinion cost the town approximately $10,343.45, according to documents obtained from the town through a Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FOIP) request last year.
None of the councillors who voted to get that legal opinion are on council; however, Verhaeghe said if there are still questions, they need to be answered.
“The Town of Athabasca's the Town of Athabasca, ” he said. “And I don't think a change in council is relevant for the matter of this opinion going public. ”
The Nov. 7 council agenda also noted there was another legal opinion obtained regarding the release of the legal opinion. Administration recommended the item be forward to in-camera, which council approved.
In an email, Morrill said he is disappointed that council rejected his request and he would not speculate on their reasoning.
“I am told no members of Council chose to have open council meeting discussions on my public request, ” Morrill stated. “Though the legal opinion in question rests in-camera for now, and WAS given to the Municipal Inspection team, I fail to see why the merits of my request could not have been discussed in open Council to provide some degree of clarity and transparency to our community and possibly serve as mitigation to speculation and after the fact questioning or attempts to explain. ”
Mayor Colleen Powell said that because the matter was discussed in-camera, she could not comment on it or the reasoning behind council's decision. She added that it was important to not comment on in-camera matters publicly, which she said was an issue with the previous town council.
“It's really, really important that we're very careful about what we take in-camera. It is equally important that we keep it in-camera, ” Powell said. “There were instances where in-camera discussions were leaked to the public. Not just here, but it happens and it really, really harms the people involved in the in-camera issues. ”
However, Verhaeghe said that as he and Morrill are the subjects of the legal opinion and they wanted it to be made public, he did not understand why council would choose not to release it.
“I pose this question - is the town trying to hide something? ” he said. “All along, I've said I have nothing to hide, and I still don't. ”
With the latest rejection, Verhaeghe said that he would discuss the matter with Morrill to determine what further action would be taken, if any.
“I'm going to assess my different options, and I haven't made any decisions yet, ” he said. “And I won't make any decisions without discussing it with former mayor Morrill. I guess I'm just a little bit disappointed that the town is not willing to release this. ”
