Province vacates mayor and council seats in Black River-Matheson, Ont.

The provincial government has declared the mayor and council seats in the township Black River-Matheson, Ont. vacant because they were unable to meet for more than 60 days.

"The absence of meetings impedes decision-making and negatively affects local residents," wrote the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Paul Calandra, in a letter to the six councillors and Mayor Doug Bender.

Calandra said that section 266(1) of the Municipal Act gives him the power to vacate council seats if they are unable to perform their duties.

The letter said a byelection will be held to fill the now vacant seats.

Until the byelection is held, Calandra said the province has appointed Kathy Horgan, manager of local government and housing for the ministry's northern regional office, on an interim basis to exercise the duties and obligations of council.

Last month three councillors – Dave Dyment, Louise Gadoury, and Steven Campsall – asked in a letter for the province to dissolve their council table due to a breakdown in communication.

Dyment said the situation meant no town business had been discussed at meetings, and council was no longer able to serve their approximately 2,500 residents.

"As the letter states, we feel that our council is broken. We feel that our leadership isn't there in our council. We have no teamwork in our council and our staff, we're finding that we're just not able to work with them anymore," said Dyment.

Dyment said he expects more people to run in the byelection than in the previous election, when many councillors were acclaimed. He plans to run again.

The township has not held a public council meeting since Jan. 23, 2024. Council did, however, hold an in-camera meeting on Feb. 20.

Campsall told CBC News he was not surprised the province took the step to dissolve council.

"I think they chose to step in due to the amount of people calling them steadily," he said.

String of issues

The municipality has faced a series of public issues including a municipal workers' strike that started as a lockout in October 2023.

Around the time the dispute reached the six-month mark a memorandum of settlement was reached, but the deal fell through at the final hour.

In 2023 the council also passed a 34.2 per cent tax increase without prior public consultation. Residents took a petition to MPP John Vanthof last August, asking for the Minister of Municipal Affairs to become involved in the township at that point.

Vanthof said he was in contact with Calandra leading up to the decision to vacate the council, and supports the decision.

"Basically the they've had two, possibly three resignations and now, it's obvious that the council isn't working and I agree with Mr. Calandra's decision to hold a new election," he said.