It was a less than auspicious welcome for newly-elected councillor John Allen as Harrison Hot Springs’ mayor and council once again butted heads – this time to the degree that not even the agenda got approved.
The meeting closed at about the 50-minute mark, leaving a lengthy agenda essentially postponed until the next meeting. It’s not initially clear when the meeting to address said agenda will take place.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Ed Wood called multiple times for Coun. Leo Facio to remove himself from the meeting after accusing him of “releasing distorted confidential information.”
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Allen noted that Wood could likely not, in an open meeting, legally elaborate on the information leaked, to whom it was leaked or any circumstances surrounding the allegations. There were attempts to move the meeting to a closed session – or “in-camera meeting” – to discuss the allegations, but they were not successful.
Productivity in Tuesday evening’s meeting ground to a halt and devolved into a war of requests with Facio asking for further explanation of the accusations and Wood ordering Facio to remove himself from the meeting or apologize. Wood stopped short of threatening to have the RCMP remove Facio from the council chambers.
Coun. Allan Jackson threatened to remove himself from the meeting should Facio remove himself or be forcibly removed. Coun. Michie Vidal called the mayor’s orders unacceptable, and the mayor shouted her down with multiple points of order before she could say anything more.
Members of the attending audience began to heckle the mayor and council. “Who made you king?” one person shouted.
“Oh for crying out loud,” grumbled another. Wood called for the removal of at least one person.
Vidal suggested having the RCMP on standby in the event of an incident due to the level of agitation in the gallery, which is a first in recent council meeting history.
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Jackson called for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Allen accused Jackson of trying to hijack the meeting, and Jackson then accused Wood of the same thing.
“You have wasted three-quarters of an hour,” Jackson said. “You could have called (Facio) into the office today and had a discussion with him,but you chose not to do that; you chose this forum, here.”
Wood said he tried to call a closed meeting on Thursday but Vidal and Facio were not available. Historically, the mayor has refused to participate in closed meetings, including those with a provincial facilitator and councillors to help the elected officials work together to govern the village.
There was a long, tense silence after about 45 minutes of debate. About five minutes later, the meeting was adjourned by a 3-2 vote with Allen and Wood opposed.
“Thank you all for coming, folks,” Allen said as the meeting concluded. “Sorry about the theatrics.”
Tuesday evening’s agenda was particularly lengthy with several items up for consideration, including applying for grants for emergency management and the Official Community Plan – a document that hasn’t been updated in more than a decade.
Stay connected to The Observer for updated meeting information as it becomes available.
