Mayor Says No Conflict, Votes on Recovery Centre
Monday, April 22, 2013 @ 8:23 PM
Prince George, B.C. – The OCP amendment and rezoning that clear the way for the development of 5877 Leslie Road as a recovery centre for women has cleared its final hurdle, 4th reading, with a Council vote of 8-1. Councillor Brian Skakun was the lone dissenter.
Mayor Shari Green took part in the final vote, saying she is not in conflict. Mayor and Council had received a letter of legal opinion on the matter of Shari Green being a “close friend” of Brian Fehr, one of the owners of the property in question. Fehr had told a National Post reporter that Green was “an old friend” when questioned about a personal hand written letter Green wrote to Fehr detailing comments made by a Minister of the Crown.
Mayor Shari Green repeated the notice she had read at the beginning of the new application “Prior to 1st and second reading I made the following statement, I’ll make it again tonight. ‘ When this last came before Council I declared a perceived conflict of interest due to a personal connection I had to an employee of the applicant. That employment no longer exists. In order to undeclare, I am required to seek legal advice, which I have done and can confirm because of the facts which have changed, as I indicated, I will participate fully in this discussion.’ So that was articulated prior to first and second reading those facts remain the same today and I will be participating fully in this final reading vote. The only relationship I have to any of the applicants in this matter, is that of community acquaintance. Like I have with hundreds of people I’ve met throughout our City in my time in local government. I am not in conflict on this matter, and I will be voting on it.”
Councillor Brian Skakun put forth a motion to have the 4th reading postponed, but there was no seconder, so that item never made it to a vote.
The residents of the Haldi Road area say they will meet later this week to discuss their options. A decision on possible court action could come from one of two avenues. The residents could opt to pursue the avenue of issues with the OCP, or they may decide to press the conflict matter
Comments
No surprise here, her arrogance amazes me sometimes.
Good luck Haldi on fighting this yet again in our court system.
My advice, don’t pursue the conflict angle. Even without her, it’s still 7 – 1 for.
On that note, I wouldn’t bother wasting your precious resources at all. Suck it up. Sometimes in life you don’t get what you want. Express your displeasure next election. Better yet, put your own names foward for representation on Council next time around.
The mayor’s statement is just an opinion and that is also what the opponents have, just an opinion. One lawyer says yes there is a conflict while the mayor’s lawyer apparently told her she doesn’t have a conflict. Isn’t there a conflict of interest commissioner that could actually rule on this?
Despite Sine Nomine, if a member of council is ruled to be in conflict, the whole thing gets tossed out and the process would have to start again. That would at least give the Haldi residents another chance to fight.
The one I don’t get in this is Krause. In the first rezoning prior to the last election he was opposed saying it was the wrong location and now he is in favour? Seeing nothing has changed what made him flip flop?
Sheri Green is horrible.
No surprises here. Notice the vote 8 to 1. So once again I say where is the representation on Council for the Citizens of Haldi Road, or for the Citizens of Prince George for that matter.
It seems obvious to me that this Council is 100% behind the various business groups, and vested interests, and not interested in looking after the concerns of the average (tax paying) citizens. This if course is not good.
Its time for this council to be something more than rubber stamps for Green and Stoltz.
I for one will be making a monetary contribution to the Haldi Road legal fund.
This issue is as much about principle, and fair honest Government, as it is about a treatment facility for women.
Now is not the time to back away, because it is at this critical moment that you lose if you do not move forward.
Brian is the only one willing to question, yet again.
^^^I would not be putting much faith in Skakun… He needed a reason to open his mouth to look good…what was his reason to say 4th reading should be postponed? If one is to state it then why did he not speak up and say why? Why not stick to your convictions?
Take a look at city website and you will see a pattern of when he objects….
And cue the whining.
Huge disappointment tonight but not surprising. The arrogance of mayor Green and some of the councilors filled the chambers. Haldi Road will continue the battle. This was suppose to be about land use. Council has lost their way. To contribute to Haldi Road contact haldiroad64@gmail.com
Like Hall said in a previous council meeting….We 9 run this city/make the decisions…Look on the city website…..
I’m not surprised at all by tonight’s outcome. It’s easier to stay at the table and continue to make decisions than it is to acknowledge you made a mistake in judgement and recuse yourself. I hope the Haldi Road residents continue on with their legal battle but in my opinion it would probably be best to stick to land use and OCP changes and not make the Mayor’s conflict the legal case but rather have this issue included as evidence of the overall biased, unfair and non democratic process that it was.
Posted by: guesswhat on April 22 2013 9:45 PM
^^^I would not be putting much faith in Skakun… He needed a reason to open his mouth to look good…what was his reason to say 4th reading should be postponed? If one is to state it then why did he not speak up and say why? Why not stick to your convictions?
Take a look at city website and you will see a pattern of when he objects….
My my guesswhat! If we look at your pattern of posting I would put you in the Haldi area.
You have one supporter on council and thatâs how you treat him? You must be a little miffed to be out of the lime light yourself.
Where’s Gus?
Posted by: Private101 on April 23 2013 5:00 AM
“You have one supporter on council and thatâs how you treat him? You must be a little miffed to be out of the lime light yourself”.
LOL many assumptions for a “new” poster or a question to ask would be a returning poster? LOL
Definition of FAITH
1
a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty
b (1) : fidelity to one’s promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
With all of Skakun’s sincerity of intentions he does not have a hope in hell with this council. It appears he is the only one on council that votes against major negative changes in residential neighborhoods. Do I have faith he can change this council – nope. Do I have trust he will fight for the taxpayers/neighborhoods in this city – yes.
Like I said, take a look at city videos and you will see he appears to be the only 1 out of 9 that actually cares about recent fiascoes in neighborhoods such as in the BBK, Valleyview and now Haldi – to give you the most recent ones.
As for being miffed – you are assuming I am someone I am not….LOL
As far as I am concerned you are a joke guesswhat. Make up your mind what you want. You want some Council on your side but you attack them when they are. There are drugs for that.
Ruez, your post sounds like you’re whining about whining. This is a legitmate subject to post on and the posts here are not whining.
My whine: I wish people would stop whining about what they think is whining.
Stop saying Brian is a man of the people. He is a contrarian. He reads every conflict and goes with the underdog. Smart really, the project still goes through, the winners don’t care that he was against it, the losers however, sing his praises because he was “fighting” for what was right.
As far a guardian of the public, how many taxpayer dollars when into his leak case? If he was really a “man of the people” he would have paid the fine and been done with it.
In all these “debates’ the only thing missing is speaking in French. Ha ha ha .
Comments for this article are closed.