The meeting of the Municipal Council, on Tuesday, June 25, was abruptly stopped following the reading of a letter received by all the members of the municipal council.
Imagine you’ve been a volunteer fire chief for 37 and a half years and all of a sudden, it seems, there are complaints, and you’re fired without investigation and without credible justification.
It is obvious that we would be shocked, cry foul, and appeal to the members of the City Council for clarification.
We would probably go to a lawyer to try to understand what I am accused of, my recourses. Especially why is my municipality destroying my reputation and my 37 years of good and loyal service without any reproach?
This is what the fire chief, formerly of Saint-Isidore, but now of the Municipality of Hautes-Terre, suffered and did. He went to see his municipal councillor, in this case me, former mayor of Saint-Isidore, who stood as councillor in the new municipality in order to defend the interests of my fellow citizens. Having been municipal director for 10 years, I am very familiar with municipal operations and procedures.
Obviously, I did what any good municipal councillor should do, ask questions to understand this unfortunate chain of events that led to the dismissal of the fire chief. I hit a wall when I was told that these human resources issues are the responsibility of the Municipality’s Director General. The latter was unable to logically explain the reason for this dismissal.
Since then, six volunteer firefighters have resigned in support of their chief. It takes about 20 firefighters to operate a fire station, here we have a completely different problem.
Who do you think is going to want to replace these volunteer firefighters after the treatment the fire chief just got?
We can expect that these types of issues will be brought to the City Council in closed session to debate them if necessary, ratify them or simply inform the councillors. Thus, when they are approached by citizens, they will be able to support the decision and explain it.
This did not happen at the Highlands City Council. That is why I felt compelled to read a letter received from a lawyer on the matter. The letter recommended that the council initiate an independent investigation to clarify the matter by introducing it under the agenda item: “Correspondence received”, since the members of the council had received it. It was to be expected that it would be read at the city council meeting.
It is quite obvious that when a councillor has to force the mayor’s hand to inform the population of a letter received at the municipality of public interest, this indicates that there are problems with the procedures and processes and that there is a lack of transparency to have, unfortunately, arrived at this point.
It is surprising that Mayor Landry, who refers to my breach of the code of ethics, does not hesitate to attack me in the Acadie Nouvelle on Saturday, June 29, when he states that “the harmony within the council is frequently disturbed by my interventions and that I have been causing trouble since the beginning.” It is obvious that these comments are a direct attack on my reputation and encourage the kind of hateful comments that I have been subjected to. He should therefore do the honourable thing and apologize publicly.
The people I represent did not elect me to perform a harmony concert, but to represent and defend the interests of my community on the council, and that is what I do.
If Mr. Landry, who has little knowledge and experience in municipal administration, were more open to really tackling problems head on in order to find solutions and build consensus, we would not be here.
So since the conflict is now in the public square, light must be shed on this matter to ensure better unity in all regions of the municipality. Perhaps the lawyer’s recommendation to conduct an independent investigation, outside of bias, personal interests, family or political ties, remains the best option. This requires that all parties adhere to it in order to put an end to a division not only within the Municipal Council, but in the entire Municipality.
It is clear that we need to ensure that we establish clear, written processes, policies and guidelines for the future. This is to ensure that we are equipped to address and navigate, with transparency, the future challenges that are sure to arise.
Louis LeBouthillier
Advise
Sainte-Isidore, municipality of Hautes-Terres
