Three Thorhild County councillors were turfed last week after refusing to follow provincially-mandated directives, says Municipal Affairs minister Danielle Larivee.
On Thursday, March 10, Larivee announced the dismissal of Thorhild County reeve Dan Buryn along with councillors Wayne Croswell and Larry Sisson after they voted in favour of hiring a CAO against independent human resources advice mandated by the government.
“It’s unfortunate when actions like this are required, but the provincial government has a duty to ensure the Municipal Government Act is being followed, so trust and integrity can be maintained at the local level,” said Larivee in a statement.
“The circumstances in this case are extreme and action had to be taken to protect the interests of Thorhild residents.”
Remaining councillors Shelly Hanasyk and deputy reeve Kevin Grumetza will remain until the end of their current term in 2017.
Municipal Affairs launched the Thorhild inspection in early 2015 following a petition from county residents. It culminated in the release of a Final Inspection Report in September 2015.
The 62-page document details divisions between the five councillors, interference in the day-to-day running of the municipality and accusations of bias, bullying, threats of violence, improper conduct and general dysfunction.
Council was ordered to follow 14 ministerial directives that included the termination of then CAO Betty Kolewaski and Coun. Sisson.
Larivee said the three councillors’ disregard of the HR advice was a breach of directives in the report and was grounds for their dismissal.
“Those three councillors did not comply with legal orders that came out of an inspection report into the conduct of the council,” said Larivee.
“Because of their choice in that matter, and it was those three councillors in particular that made that choice, I had to take action.”
Wayne Croswell said he was “shocked” to learn of his dismissal on Thursday and said the decision was “unfair” and “unjust.”
He said council was working towards following the directives set out by Municipal Affairs and was unaware of the actual reason for his dismissal.
Larivee confirmed the applicant set for the CAO’s post was former Westlock-St. Paul MP Brian Storseth’s company 1824400 Alberta Ltd.
“Brian Storseth was the applicant they chose and it was clearly communicated to them by the HR company that he did not satisfy the requirements and they would not support their decision to choose him,” the minister said.
Croswell denied receiving any human resources advice against Storseth’s hire, but did admit two government-appointed administrators disapproved of the decision.
“They had to either approve, or disapprove any resolution we made and they disapproved of the appointment that we made,” Croswell said.
“We didn’t know if it was legal that they could disapprove something like that because that’s probably one of the most important decisions a council makes is the appointment of the CAO.”
Storseth confirmed his company had been offered a contract, but said the process was never finalized. He said he later learned his application was unsuccessful but was unaware as to the reasoning.
“As I understand it, my application was rejected. That’s really all I know,” said Storseth.
The former Town of Barrhead councillor said he never had any communication with council aside from an interview and his dealings were solely with the recruitment firm Davies Park.
“I want to be clear, I went through the process through Davies Park. Our company replied to a recruiting posting … I personally responded to a phone call to provide additional information,” Storseth said.
“I once again responded to Davies Park to come in for an interview, which Davis Park was a part of with the council. The subsequent potential contract that was arranged was arranged through the recruiting agency as well.”
Croswell said he feels his dismissal was due to a judicial review he, Buryn and Sisson recently filed.
“We did file a judicial review against the [Final Inspection Report] and the resulting directives and the application was filed a week ago, today [March 3],” he said.
“I have no doubt this triggered our dismissal. I think they were concerned this judicial review would show the report was a witch hunt and totally flawed in many different ways.”
Croswell said that council had already complied with many of the directives set out in the report and had received letters from Municipal Affairs thanking them for their compliance.
A byelection will be held within the next 90 to elect three new councillors, while Municipal Affairs has appointed an official administrator who will focus on maintaining normal county operations until the byelection.
The Westlock News attempted to contact Buryn and Sisson for comment in this article, but neither was available before press time.
