Let’s jump to the events of April 9, 2015 and the aftermath.
In April 2015 two Lantzville councillors (Jennifer Millbank & Rod Negrave) called for a special meeting of Council to be held April 9, 2015. 2 items were on the agenda.
- Remove myself as the Lantzville representative on the Regional District of Nanaimo board
- Direct staff to engage a consultant to investigate and advise on Council-Staff relations related to the content of a memo from staff dated March 26, 2015.
In municipal government the council’s appoint an individual to represent municipal interest on the local regional district board. While it is often the Mayor of the community, which in 2015 was myself, it is not required to be. I had represented Lantzville on the RDN board from incorporation in 2003 until 2011 when I was “unelected” and again from the election in 2014.
Why would Millbank et al remove me from the RDN board? Had I voted on some regional district item to the detriment of Lantzville? Had I not been performing my duties as required? Nope
In fact, I was Deputy Chair of the RDN Board. So the RDN Board members from Nanaimo, Qualicum, Parksville and the electoral areas thought highly of me in that they elected myself to help lead them. Yet apparently Millbank and Negrave did not.
Maybe some additional background is in order. In the 2011 I was unelected. Why, after leading the community for 8 years would the residents feel the need to replace me? Shit. Yes, really shit.
In 2010 a controversy arose whereby a resident, in an attempt to establish a farm business, was using residential property in an intensive food growing operation. Specifically I had no issue with that. The issue however was that significant amount of manure and organics were brought onto the property in order to create a growing medium. This was an area served by individual residential wells and the manure being brought in was not, in my opinion, properly prepared. Neighbours complained about the nuisance including odor, visual aspects and concern about well contamination. In short this neighbourhood dispute blew up into a significant issue. I believed in enforcing bylaws and by doing so I became the target of a significant defamatory campaign. Relating to the 2015 council both Councillors Millbank and Negrave were supporters of the farming property owner. Negrave spoke many times in favour of what the property owner was doing and Millbank spoke at the public hearing in March 2014 on temporary use permits which was Council’s first attempt to legalize the use albeit on a temporary basis until the specific issue could be dealt with.
Jennifer Millbank was not on council at the time of that public hearing in March 2014 that she spoke at. Millbank is a lawyer and has dealt with municipal law. At the time I found it very strange for her to state “Council is not the judge, jury and executioner of the use of property”. Weird as councils are directly held responsible and given the power in the Local Government Act of BC (Div 5 Section 479) to divide municipalities into zones, regulate the use of land buildings and structures in those zones and the power to prohibit any use or uses in a zone. Makes one wonder why she said what she said when it is very clear as to who controlled zoning and land uses? Lack of knowledge? Political positioning? or some other strategy?
Interesting enough is that Millbank then ran for council in 2011 and was elected. Adding to the interest is that the version of the minutes of the public hearing online at the District of Lantzville website were altered after the election in 2011 to remove Millbank’s last name from the posted minutes of the public hearing. Why were the minutes altered so that they did not match those approved by Council and by whom? I later asked District staff about the altered minutes and they denied any involvement. Strange goings on.
More to come
