A pair of Town of Athabasca councillors are questioning whether Coun. Tim Verhaeghe still lives in town — a claim Verhaeghe not only denies, but says was dealt with at an open council meeting more than 12 months ago.
Recently town councillors Nichole Adams and Tanu Tyszka-Evans approached the local media with Adams saying that after noticing that Verhaeghe’s house had a “For Sale” sign on it she decided to investigate.
In early September the Advocate was provided with a number of documents, including a Change of Address form that states Verhaeghe and his wife are the registered owners of a home in St. Albert. A Transfer of Land document, also obtained by the Advocate, confirms Verhaeghe sold his Athabasca home this past July.
“In August someone contacted me and told me his house had sold and I looked into it and it was absolutely true,” said Adams.
“I pulled the land title, and there it is in black and white: he had sold his property. I mean, he could’ve moved somewhere in Athabasca, but I went down to St. Albert and found his address that he had moved to. I now have documentation proving he bought a house in St. Albert and filed a change of address form.”
In an interview with the Advocate, Verhaeghe confirmed he does own a home in St. Albert, but says Athabasca is his primary residence and provided his driver’s licence showing it, which under the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA) is the first factor listed in determining a person’s residency.
Furthermore, he said the issue of his residency was brought up previously in council chambers in 2014 when he asked mayor Roger Morrill to contact Municipal Affairs in regards to his residency situation.
“My personal residence is Athabasca,” Verhaeghe confirmed Thursday.
“Municipal Affairs was notified of my personal circumstances through Mayor Morrill and Mayor Morrill advised me that Municipal Affairs had no concerns based on the facts presented to them. Four of six other Athabasca councillors apparently have no other concerns about my residence, two do.”
Hees Estates resident Mabel Dick, who submitted a letter to the Alberta Law Society asking that body to investigate Verhaeghe’s residency, stated that if Verhaeghe is living in town, it isn’t at his brother’s home.
“It appears to me that no one is living in Richard’s (Verhaeghe) house (on) a regular basis — there are no lights on, no vehicles coming and going, and none in the drive(way),” said Dick.
“Tim Verhaeghe and family moved out of his house here in Hees Estates last fall and to my knowledge, have not lived here since that time.”
Jerry Ward, a public affairs officer for Municipal Affairs, said a councillor is disqualified from sitting on council when they no longer meet eligibility requirements under the LAEA — an integral part of that Act states that councillors must reside in the community they serve.
Pages 32 of the Act reads in part: (1.1) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a.1), a person shall designate the person’s place of residence in accordance with the following factors in the following order of priority: (a) the address shown on the person’s driver’s licence or motor vehicle operator’s licence issued by or on behalf of the Government of Alberta or an identification card issued by or on behalf of the Government of Alberta; (b) the address to which the person’s income tax correspondence is addressed and delivered; (c) the address to which the person’s mail is addressed and delivered.
“If a councillor moves out of the municipality, they would need to resign,” Ward explained via e-mail. “It is up to the councillor to confirm that the move is permanent and not of a temporary nature.”
Morrill said the issue of Verhaeghe’s residency has been dealt with.
“I have no concerns about Tim’s residence. I’m not of aware of any concerns I should have based upon the Local Authorities Election Act,” said Morrill.
“Under the MGA (Municipal Government Act) in a situation like this my understanding is that there are two approaches. One is a citizen-led approach and one is going through Municipal Affairs through your council and Municipal Affairs, or through the minister of Municipal Affairs. I have concerns about this (councillors approaching the media) approach.”
Adams contends that Verhaeghe hasn’t stepped forward during town council meetings to address the issue, which goes against the town’s transparency platform.
“I’m mostly concerned with upholding our town’s democracy,” she said. “We do expect all of our councillors to uphold and adhere to the law. I think it’s a very basic requirement to have residency; it’s not a hard one to meet, so it’s concerning if we do have councillors living out of town.
“The residents of this town want someone to represent them and how can you represent the residents in this town if you are not also a resident? How can you be claiming to speak for the community if you’re not living here?”
Adams and Tyszka-Evans have also filed a complaint with the Law Society of Alberta asking that body to investigate the residency issue.
“From what I understand my law society has been notified about this. This is outside the mandate of the Law Society of Alberta so I suspect they will have no concern,” said Verhaeghe.
“We have some serious issues we have to deal with as a municipal council such as the recession, the building of a new school, the library location issue and the building of a new pool. That is my focus. But it’s difficult to focus on that when I have other councillors focusing on me — they’re not focusing on the bigger picture, in my opinion.
“There is a proper process to follow and that process has not been followed.”
