Another Senneville councillor resigns seat
Martin Gauthier and Michael Van der Linden ran under Mayor Jane Guest’s unofficial slate
About six months since its general municipal election, Senneville is preparing to hold two byelections following the resignations of political neophytes from council.
The two councillors who have resigned, Martin Gauthier (District 4) and Michael Van der Linden (District 1), both ran under Mayor Jane Guest’s unofficial slate last fall. Van der Linden, along with the now four remaining councillors, publicly demanded Guest resign as mayor during a January council meeting. At that time, he said he decided to ask for the mayor’s resignation as a pragmatic means of ending the gridlock facing council, adding he realized, in hindsight, that running as part of a slate was a mistake.
As of last month, Guest has been excluded from the in-camera caucus meetings held by the councillors to discuss town business heading into the official public meetings. Since then, the mayor has her held own sessions with the town manager to review matters being considered for the next council meeting.
Van der Linden told The Gazette last Thursday that he resigned for personal and family reasons. “There is no controversy associated with my resignation,” he stated.
Gauthier had served on the steering committee for Senneville As a Village Environment, led for about four years by Guest, heading into the election campaign last fall. He resigned in early March citing scheduling conflicts/time constraints, adding the political turmoil on council was not the main factor in his decision.
Meanwhile, Chris Jackson, a former councillor who once ran for mayor, has officially submitted his candidacy for the District 4 seat.
“There’s a lot of conflict in the community and I plan to campaign door-to-door and speak with the neighbours one-on-one,” he said. “I think what the community needs is to quiet it down and get less emotional about past transgressions or whatever.”
As for the master urban plan pushed by the previous council and scuttled last fall, Jackson said it was a significant improvement over an initial draft tabled about four years ago.
“A few things could have been done better, but that’s a democracy. You’re never going to get a perfect plan. That plan was a vast improvement over the first (proposed) urban plan,” he said. “The town has been running very hot since the first urban plan (in 2010). The conflicts in Senneville have been going on for several years. It would nice to see it quiet down.”
Jackson said while leaving the mayor out of caucus is a drastic move by the current councillors, he said details behind this tactic or their dispute with Guest have not been made public.
“Throwing someone off caucus is the nuclear option,” he said. “It sets a horrible precedent and because caucus is confidential, we don’t know, and they haven’t told us why she was thrown off.”
Julie Brisebois, who lost her bid for re-election last fall to Gauthier, said she is considering running again but hasn’t made a final decision.
Brisebois said while the previous council faced pressure from SAVE members, which included the two councillors who resigned, the current council must deal with tabling another master urban plan, including realistic zoning options for the former Veterans’ Lodge/ golf course property, which was sold to a developer last Friday and the so-called triangle property whose owner has requested 12 building permits.
“It takes some nerves and it’s not easy to be put in that position,” Brisebois said of being a councillor. “People don’t realize, even in a small town like ours, how much time you have to put into making this work, especially when you have an urban plan on the table.”
George McLeish, the longtime mayor bested by Guest last fall and still present at council meetings as a resident, said he does not plan to run in the by-elections.
“No chance whatsoever,” he said. “No one has asked me and I’m certainly not volunteering to run.”
The nomination period for both May 11 by-elections ends April 11.
Only electors who reside in either of one these particular districts are eligible to vote, said town clerk Joanne Bouclin.