Province takes over new municipality divided by council turmoil
Lakeland Ridges mayor and council haven’t met since May, won’t comment on intervention
Inside, a phone was ringing. No one was there to answer it.
By the road, the old Canterbury village hall sign was faded, almost illegible, giving no hint of the newly created municipality's name.
Last week, the New Brunswick government announced it was taking over administration of the community, stripping the elected council of its authority and appointing a supervisor to make decisions.
Mayor
Tanya Cloutier said she wasn't able to comment at this time. But
according to some residents, the council has been bitterly divided. (Submitted by Tanya Cloutier)
People in the municipality, created by the Higgs government's local government reform, were left bewildered.
"I'd like to know everything, the whole situation, why they're acting up," said Laura Roussell, who has run Russell's Place, a general store and coffee shop, for 47 years.
Getting answers isn't easy.
The province won't say what exactly triggered its move.
The province's Control of Municipalities Act allows it when a municipality can't pay its bills, when there aren't enough councillors for the quorum required to hold a meeting or when council "is not able to carry on the business of a council."
A statement from Local Government Minister Glen Savoie didn't say which of those prompted his decision.
"Unfortunately I am unable to comment at this time," Mayor Tanya Cloutier said in an email.
But according to some residents, the council has been bitterly divided, with some members accused of sabotaging the smooth functioning of the newly created administration.
"I'm very disappointed in the way things have turned out, but I'm not surprised," said Steve Manuel, a former mayor of Meductic, one of two villages absorbed into Lakeland Ridges.
The municipality has an estimated population of 2,600 people in a sprawling area below Woodstock on the St. John River.
It stretches to the St. Croix River that forms part of the Canada-U.S. border, taking in the former villages of Canterbury and Meductic, as well as several local service districts. Skiff Lake, a popular cottage spot, is also within its boundaries.
The provincial reform created new municipal entities in many rural areas that had lacked a local government.
"As it has in other municipalities, it could have been a good thing," Manuel said. "But the group needed to work together and that just is not happening."
Manuel sat on a planning committee in 2022 that tried to map out the contours and functions of the new municipality.
He said several members of that committee, who he wouldn't name, "stated publicly at the meetings that they were against this forced amalgamation, and they were going to do everything in their power to see that it didn't work."
Some of them now sit on council, he said.
"It's been a lot of bickering over the way things should be done and who has the authority to do what," he said.
"If their intention originally was to see to it that this didn't work, then I guess they got their wish."
Laura
Roussell has run a general store and coffee shop in what is now
Lakeland Ridges for 47 years. She says she'd like to know what's going
on with the municipal council. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
The provincially appointed supervisor, Michael Blaney, would not agree to an interview.
But he confirmed by email that the council has not met since May 23.
When the council convened June 12, members could not agree on an agenda so the meeting didn't go ahead.
On June 29, Cloutier announced that the two municipal office staff, chief administrative officer and clerk Susie Patterson and deputy clerk-treasurer Lana Sharpe, were "currently out on medical leave."
That was the first indication something was wrong, Manuel said.
"The comments we've heard about the way they were treated, that type of thing is now getting out in the public, and people were very upset and surprised to hear about all this."
Another scheduled council meeting on July 10 was cancelled because a temporary clerk still wasn't in place.
Coun. Randy Stairs, who was a village councillor in Meductic before the amalgamation, turned down an interview request.
He said the supervisor had "strongly suggested" at a meeting Tuesday night that the mayor and councillors not talk publicly about what's happening.
The
provincial reform created new municipal entities across the province,
including combining Canterbury, seen here, with Meductic. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
Stairs confirmed he was against the amalgamation "from the get-go" but was trying to make it work, adding the province hadn't heard the perspective of a majority of councillors before imposing the supervisor.
But he refused to share that perspective with CBC News.
"You have no idea how bad I want to," he said.
Resident Terry Kaye says some councillors who sat on previous village councils "don't want" anything to change and the province was right to step in.
"They're there to serve the community and we're not getting that," he said. "We're not getting things done. If they're acting like a bunch of kids, it's time to get rid of the problem."
Lakeland Ridges isn't the only newly created municipality going through a bumpy first year of existence in the wake of the local government reform.
Steve
Manuel, a former mayor of Meductic, one of two villages absorbed into
Lakeland Ridges, said he's 'very disappointed in the ways things have
turned out.' (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
The new town of Belle-Baie angered some anglophone residents when it opted to function almost exclusively in French, even though one of its previous villages, Beresford, offered some bilingual services.
The newly enlarged town of Shippagan got into a dispute with residents of the former village of Le Goulet over who owned its former village office.
But Lakeland Ridges is the only new municipality the province has taken over.
"There's a lot of responsibilities that are a lot larger than just one village council, a lot of new things that they have to look after, and they're not getting anywhere," Manuel said.
Roussell said some residents of other areas of Lakeland Ridges are jealous that a family doctor has been holding a clinic one evening a week in Canterbury.
"There are council members from all the other districts and they want to stop things in one place and start it up in another place," she said.
"I kind of felt that would happen because we should be ourselves. Each place should have their own everything."
Manuel supported amalgamation and said "a lot of positives" can come from it.
The
municipality stretches to the St. Croix River that forms part of the
Canada-U.S. border, taking in the former villages of Meductic, seen
here, and Canterbury, as well as several local service districts and
Skiff Lake. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
"But there was 'this is mine and that's yours,' that type of thing. That attitude, there's no place in today's world for that type of thing," he said.
"We have an opportunity to make something very positive and unfortunately some individuals didn't feel that was the way to go."
He also said the province didn't always have answers ready for the new council about elements of the reform and that contributed to "growing pains."
Kaye says there should be a new election. But none is scheduled until 2026, and the supervisor is unlikely to stay in place that long.
Savoie said in an emailed statement that Blaney will hire an inspector "to investigate the affairs of the local government" and help draft a report "recommending actions required for the council to return to carrying on its business."
Manuel says it's hard to say if that's realistic.
"Anything is possible, but these feelings, these comments, these intentions, not by all council but by some, did not start a short while ago. It started before the committee to form the new municipality even met."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Oh My My Who should I call?
Geordan Mann
Higgs has a cottage in that area. Maybe they were planning something that he did not like. That would cause his common over-the-top, fire everyone who disagrees with me, response.
Chris Merriam
Reply to Geordan Mann
Did you read the article at all?
David Amos
Reply to Geordan Mann
He did it before in my neck of the woods
Archie MacDaniel
Reply to Geordan Mann
The conspiracy plot thickens.
Bobby Richards
This municipality includes the premier's home town. Maybe this is where he gets his My Way or the Highway mentality.
David Amos
Reply to Bobby Richards
Of that I have no doubt
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