WESTLOCK – Westlock County councillors have unanimously overturned a CAO-imposed, half-year censure of former councillor Dennis Primeau, calling the event a “learning experience” for the municipality.
Primeau had been barred from attending meetings in person or online, as well as all county properties, following an incident at the March 8 meeting where Coun. Jared Stitsen was interrupted during debate on Rottier’s Beach by an online attendee who can be heard saying “****ing ****sucker.” Stitsen, jarred by the outburst, stopped his monologue and said: “ … who do we have swearing online? Councillor Primeau?” Subsequently, on March 11, interim CAO Pat Vincent banned Primeau from attending county meetings and all county properties for six months under section 9.11 of the municipality’s procedure bylaw.
Primeau appeared in front of council at its March 22 meeting to plead his case and categorically denied during a 13-minute presentation that it was his voice on the recording, stating that “profane language should not be used in council meetings by anyone.” He said he’s listened to recording several times with Vincent and it’s his contention, “there’s nothing in the recording that identifies who said the profanity, or to whom it may have been directed.”
“The attempt to censure me is not supported by any facts or evidence. If the county had correctly muted all microphones and was not negligent in ensuring they remained that way, this issue could have been avoided,” said Primeau, who threatened legal action if the censure wasn’t overturned.
“Do you honestly believe anyone knowing they were being recorded would have made the kind of comment that’s been alleged?”
Ultimately, Vincent said he respected the 7-0 vote by councillors to overturn the ban, saying they’re the “ultimate authority.” Primeau told councillors during his presentation that he had talked with a Municipal Affairs rep who told him only councillors can be censured and banning a member of the public from municipal meetings and properties would have required a judge’s order.
“From my past experience having dealt with similar situations in other municipalities, I felt that this was the appropriate step to take. Mr. Primeau and I did meet, we reviewed the audio and listened to it two or three times. We had a cordial meeting,” said Vincent in a March 24 follow-up interview.
“It was an administrative decision, and it was appealable. Council is the ultimate authority and I’ve always recognized that. In their wisdom, based on the facts and what they were aware of in the appeal, that was their decision and I’m good with it. I’m not offended in any way, shape or form and respect them for having to deal with that situation.”
In his March 15 letter to Vincent that was included with the March 22 council agenda package, Primeau asked for the chance to speak to council directly and attributed the outburst to one of the “dozen or so” people who attend the meetings electronically.
Primeau also stated that Vincent had admitted to him that there was a “hole in the system” as the county doesn’t automatically mute online public participants, while reeve Christine Wiese confirmed at least two other instances where online participants have interrupted meetings.
Primeau also directed council to a March 18 story in the Edmonton Journal where a naked man was seen during a Zoom meeting for the Rural Municipality of Dufferin and said it’s the county’s responsibility to better manage the Zoom component.
“All microphones of people not participating should have been muted. I was not participating in the meeting in any way whatsoever and had noted at the start of the meeting that I was muted,” said Primeau. “The county had no right to eavesdrop on what was said in the privacy of my home or the homes of any persons who dialed into the meeting. The county has no right to record or broadcast to others the private conversations of persons who were not participating in the meeting.”
While a county councillor, Primeau was censured on a pair of occasions for crossing the line of the municipality’s code of conduct bylaw — the last six-month censure came in the fall of 2019.
Council’s response
Coun. Stuart Fox-Robinson made the motion to end the ban saying, “There’s a learning experience here for multiple people and we should treat it like that and respectfully move forward as a council working for the benefit of our residents.” He, as well as the rest of council, did note that verbal abuse of council or county staff won’t be tolerated.
“If anybody is willing to disrespect either council or administrative staff, or public works staff then I will be the first person to bring forward a motion to deal with it,” said Fox-Robinson.
“Everybody needs to be respectful of council. We’re here as elected officials and we expect everyone to have a high level of respect towards us in meeting and in Zoom meetings,” added Wiese.
Coun. Isaac Skuban said while he was voting to overturn the ban as they had no authority to enforce it, he didn’t believe the county was in the wrong and made it clear that it should be up to meeting participants to ensure they’re muted.
“I’m not going to take blame as a councillor. We want the quorum to be professional in Westlock County. People still have that perception of how the county runs and for me I really don’t want to tolerate any of that,” said Skuban. “I’m not blind, I saw what happened on the Zoom call. I saw who was attending and I saw who was muted and who was unmuted.”
“I’m going to tell you everyone has to be responsible for themselves. It’s my job to mute myself, it’s not the staff’s job. And no offence, it’s Mr. Primeau’s job to manage his end,” said deputy reeve Ray Marquette. “But Mr. Primeau has done his homework. I don’t want to go against our interim CAO, but I think there could be a big can of worms there.”
Procedure bylaw changes coming
Going forward, Wiese asked for administration to look at the county’s procedure bylaw and tweak it to better reflect the fact that council meetings are now held in person and online.
Vincent said he expects those changes, which will include penalties for rule breakers, to be back in front of council as part of a robust discussion on the future of the online meetings, which only started due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions.
“It will make it very clear and give very distinct guidelines should a situation arise in the future that needs to be dealt with,” said Vincent, adding he likes the meetings being broadcast online as it “allows more residents to participate in the democratic process.”
