Irregularities in North Vancouver City Council: Conflict of interest? Topic ignored? Incorrect meeting minutes?

City Council 2014-2018. Photo Courtesy of City of North Vancouver

North Van City Voices, a civic watchdog in that municipality, has just posted a story regarding inexplicable behaviour in Council this week. One Councillor raised a point of privilege on October 4, 2015, at the start of the meeting, regarding (1) a potential conflict of interest involving the Mayor and another Councillor, and (2) the potential violation of provincial legislation by elected officials.

The Chair and the meeting completely ignored this intervention. That would appear to be in violation of the city’s own bylaws. The minutes of meeting then fail to accurately report that the point was raised  during the meeting (after the meeting was called to order) — which anyone can verify by viewing the council video. What is going on here? At what point do Provincial authorities need to step in and ensure that due process is being followed at the municipal level?

Excerpt from “Elephant in the Room -a new low in the CNV” (North Van City Voices, 9-Oct-2015):

At Monday’s Council Meeting immediately after the meeting was called to order, Councillor Clark raised the following Point of Privilege:

Point of Privilege
Mayor Mussatto & Fellow City Councillors:
My Point of Privilege arises out of a loan for $7,639.10 made by Councillor Keating to Mayor Mussatto in the last election. I believe this creates a conflict of interest in that the Mayor & a member of Council now have a financial relationship which has to date not been publicly exposed.
Secondly, on examination of the Mayor’s Financial Disclosure document submitted shortly after the last election; on page 2 – top of the page under Liabilities, no mention or disclosure of the $7,639.10 loan from Councillor Keating to the Mayor is made. This is required under the Act.
Until this very serious matter is resolved, I call on the Mayor & Councillor Keating to immediately step down from City Council.
Councillor Rod Clark
Oct 4/2015

The Council meeting then continued as though nothing had been said, in violation of the Council Procedures Bylaw which states ...

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Read the full article and access the links here.

https://nvcityvoices.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/elephant-in-the-room-a-new-low-in-the-cnv/

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