CODETTE — After Codette council received a petition signed by about half of the village opposing one of their decisions, three councillors resigned, feeling it was a declaration of non-confidence.
The village announced Gordon Bulger, Mark Gunnlaugson and Brian Rutherford’s resignations April 4. That’s in addition to the resignation of the village’s mayor, Malcolm Haveroen, which was announced March 1.
The resignations leave Codette council with only one member remaining, Gordon Joyes.
“What had happened was a couple of meetings ago, it was a decision of the majority of council – not of everybody, of course – to [pass a resolution] of reducing the hours of the town foreman and some small things, but the town foreman’s hours was the main one,” he said. “Some citizens then took up a petition and brought it to council at the end of February. We reviewed the petition and tabled it to out to next meeting to do what action we needed to do.”
Close to half of the village’s population of 189 had signed the petition.
At the next council meeting the three councillors resigned, stating in their letter the amount of signatures on the petition was a sign of non-confidence from the village’s citizens.
Since there aren’t enough members on council to hold a meeting, the village is working with the provincial government to find a way forward.
“We have now approached the minister and sent them a list of names and they will, in turn, appoint an interim council until an election is held,” Joyes said. “Whatever advice the government gives us, we’ll follow it.”
