Town of Athabasca Coun. Joanne Peckham has stepped down as town council member representative for the Tourism Economic Development (TED) committee, following an “incident” at the committee’s Aug. 17 meeting.
Peckham announced she would step down from the committee near the end of an almost five-hour council meeting held on Sept. 6. Council voted unanimously to accept her stepping down, and a motion was passed to place Coun. Steve Schafer on the committee in her place.
At an Athabasca County council meeting Aug. 25, county council made a motion to “authorize Reeve (Doris) Splane to correspond to the Mayor and Council of the Town of Athabasca requesting they review the Town Council Member appointment to the Tourism Economic Development Committee, due to the incident at the August 17, 2016, meeting.”
The town received a letter to that effect from Athabasca County, dated Aug. 26, and the letter was presented at the town council meeting Sept. 6.
“That’s a private matter that goes in camera, and I would be very careful of you saying anything in public,” Peckham said at the meeting, noting that she had spoken with Municipal Affairs.
When the incident was brought up the end of the meeting, Peckham said the item should be moved in camera.
“After talking to Municipal Affairs today, it’s a disclosure that’s harmful to intergovernmental relations as under Section 21 of the FOIP act,” she said. “This should be in camera and in response from CAO Ryan Maier, in regards to releasing any information, the result is that the information could not be released due to privacy concerns and it would be harmful to individuals.”
Coun. Tim Verhaeghe rebutted this with two points.
“When we get a letter from the county saying ‘Athabasca County values a partnership we have with the Town of Athabasca, however we feel this incident was of such a serious nature that it could simply not be condoned and that we request it be dealt with accordingly,’ they’re kind of waiving that intergovernmental relations by virtue of sending out the letter,” he said.
“Secondly, you referred to CAO Maier, saying due to privacy concerns – yes, a county employee from their point of view is considered in camera, or should be treated as confidential. We, as councillors around this table, are not considered employees – we’re councillors. Therefore, this does not fall under personnel, and it should not go in camera. I would like to know what happened on that day. I don’t want to see this buried like other things have been buried.”Is this correct?
Coun. Shelly Gurba said she would like to hear from both the county and Peckham before taking any action against Peckham.
“I don’t disagree. I’m saying, I want to know what happened,” Verhaeghe said. “I’m not laying the blame on anybody. I want to know what happened on that date.”
Earlier in the meeting, council made a motion to set up a meeting with the county to discuss developments with the new Edwin Parr Composite School. Verhaeghe suggested the incident be added to the agenda for that meeting.
Schafer then made a motion.
“The phrase that comes to mind at this time is, ‘there’s unfinished business’ pertaining to this, and in that regard, I make this motion that Coun. Peckham be removed until further notice from the TED committee,” he said.
Schafer later amended the motion to include that the removal would be subject to review.
“My concern with this is that we are jumping the gun,” Gurba said. “Until we know what events precipitated this, I’m concerned that we’re just going to remove someone without having anything to back it with.”
“I find that someone what ironic,” Verhaeghe said, laughing.
Mayor Roger Morrill asked Schafer to rescind his motion until the matter could be discussed with the county.
“I won’t rescind,” Schafer said. “If council wishes to defeat the motion that’s a motion of council.”
Responding to the motion, Peckham once again reiterated her conversation with Municipal Affairs.
“I have been honest,” Peckham said. “I sent you guys immediately what happened, to all of you, and to Municipal Affairs. So I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong, and I’m the victim, and I’m staying with that.”
Schafer rescinded the motion after Peckham voluntarily stepped down.
Coun. Tanu Evans said he had one plea for Peckham – to simply step down from the committee.
“We wouldn’t have to have this discussion with the county, and we once again would not have to have a vote to forcefully remove somebody from a committee,” he said. “You could just cite the reason as you have a disagreement with somebody who works closely with the TED committee, and it would end all of this.”
“I can do that,” she said. “Consider it my resignation, that I step down from the TED committee then.”
Council voted unanimously on a motion posed by Peckham to resign.
For more on the story, pick up next week’s Athabasca Advocate.
