Parkland County Council Holds Special Meetings

Parkland County

Parkland County council held two special meetings earlier this week to deal with code of conduct complaints levied against several members of the council. They were dealt with in closed session. Former Parkland County mayor Rod Shaigec attended the meetings and says residents attending were incredulous over the amount of times council went into closed session. 

“Given that council took the same approach on June 18th, they went into the safety and sanctuary of a closed session. Roughly 14 times they took either a recess or a closed session to get clarity on the legal processes from legal council. That’s unacceptable.”

Shaigec says he is concerned about how many tax dollars are being spent on having legal council at these meetings. 

At the meeting on Tuesday, councillor Natalie Birnie stated there are now legal proceedings against mayor Allan Gamble and councilors Phyllis Kobasiuk and Rob Wiedeman.

“Mayor Gamble seemed to be very dismissive of the court action,” Shaigec told The One. “Saying that’s it’s only allegations, and he’s right. At this point it’s only allegations, but they are very serious allegations. To me it appears these members of council, once again, have contravened the county bylaw and sections of the Municipal Government Act.”

Shaigec believes there are grounds for disqualification and immediate removal from council for breaching the Municipal Government Act.

“I’m not sure why someone would put themselves and the county in that position,” Shaigec said. “But that’s where we are right now. We’ll see what happens with this court action. One of those code of conduct complaints has been forwarded to the minister (Ric McIvor) because there wasn't quorum. I’m most certain the minister is aware of what’s happening in Parkland County.”

Shaigec hopes the provincial government takes action and orders an investigation or municipal inspection.