The province won’t wade into the dysfunction at Nanaimo council, leaving the local government to heal itself.
Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson said in a statement to the Times Colonist that municipal governments have their own codes of conduct to guide behaviour.
“Local governments are autonomous, responsible and accountable. They have a range of tools to help elected officials conduct themselves in a responsible manner and provide opportunities for the public to be involved in local decision-making. The responsible conduct of local elected officials is expected from all,” she said.
Mayor Bill McKay said he was disappointed with the news. Nanaimo council has tried resolving its disputes independently, with little luck. “We have spent an unbelievable amount of time concentrating on interpersonal disputes, when I would have loved to be getting down to work and dealing with the citizens’ business,” he said.
McKay plans to support a motion, to be considered at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention next month, to create an integrity commissioner’s office.
Some residents said they felt the city is being abandoned.
“It’s divided our entire community,” said Tali Campbell, who ran in the 2014 civic election and advocated for the $80-million events centre. “I think anytime something like this happens, you give it time, to figure it out. But it’s been long enough now, the dysfunction at our council.”
Don Bonner, who led the charge against the proposed events centre, in part based on concerns about governance, said residents shouldn’t have to wait until the 2018 election to see a resolution.
“There’s no option for local voters to basically have a say in how [the city] is being run. Once the election is done, we’re then stuck, for the next four years,” Bonner said. “Nanaimo is an example of extreme voter dissatisfaction. We’ve become the laughing stock of Canada in municipal affairs and we have no recourse.”
Last week, Nanaimo’s chief administrator, Tracy Samra, released a statement saying that an independent consultant found that McKay, Coun. Diane Brennan and former councillor Wendy Pratt created a hostile work environment for her.
The mayor responded by calling Samra’s statement “grossly inaccurate in its facts.”
Last October, Coun. Gord Fuller told the mayor to “bite me” during a meeting.
The next month, a citizen released a confidential email written by McKay in 2015 to an outside conflict-resolution mediator, which described some councillors as bullies and mentally ill.
The city-funded Nanaimo Economic Development Corp. disbanded last year after its chief executive was fired for criticizing city council for removing tourism marketing from the corporation’s mandate.
