Westlock County reeve Don Savage says he has no financial stake in Tawatinaw’s Pine Valley Resort.
At a special Dec. 22 council meeting, Savage voted in favour of reinstating lease and tax payments owed to the county by DK Consulting, the firm leasing the ski hill from the municipality.
Under the Municipal Government Act, a councillor is deemed to have a pecuniary interest if a matter monetarily affects them or their family member.
Over the last several months, there has been confusion as to whether Savage had a pecuniary interest regarding the ski hill, since his spouse Geri is a business manager with Pine Valley Resort, which is leased by Dom Kriangkum and DK Consulting.
Savage explained that he abstained from a vote under the recommendation by then-CAO Peter Kelly, but subsequent CAOs Duane Coleman and Pat Vincent advised him that he could vote.
“I or Geri were not benefitting just because DK Consulting was the contractor,” Savage said. “She just had a job there. They said there was nothing wrong with me partaking in any vote with respect to the ski hill.”
In the past, Savage voted in favour of approving the three-year lease/purchase agreement Dec. 8, 2015. However, he left during a Feb. 9, 2016 meeting where council passed a motion allowing DK Consulting to operate as Pine Valley Resort. Then on June 28, Savage moved to suspend all rent and tax payments until the county had a new CAO and a new agreement could be made with DK Consulting.
“As far as a conflict there, both those CAOs told me that there was no conflict because Geri has absolutely nothing to do (with it),” he said.
“All she works for is DK Consulting. That’s the way they explained it to me. I hope I’m in the clear otherwise I wouldn’t be voting on it. It’s just as easy to abstain.”
He added that he has not consulted with the county’s current CAO Leo Ludwig about a possible conflict or pecuniary interest.
Meanwhile, the county had submitted an amended lease to Kriangkum at the end of November, but those discussions were put on hold until payments on arrears are made.
“It’s the MGA (that) dictates and the MGA says he has to pay,” Savage said. “He signed the contract so that’s where it ended up.”
“As the rest goes, that’s going to come up at the meeting on Jan. 10 and we’ve got to figure out how we’re going to deal with Dom and I’m sure Leo has rigged up something with him. When (Kriangkum) got that bill, he kind of shut the door and said, ‘No, I don’t want to be there.’ He’s made a deal with Leo and whatever that deal is, is going to come out on Jan. 10.”
Kriangkum declined to comment until he could meet with the county later this month, but said he had been talking with the county about his payments for a while.
“It’s something I wasn’t expecting,” he said.
