At the beginning of 2016, beach and pro-beach Councillors and Reeve held majority control of the RM of McKillop 220 Council. With the defeat of the incumbent Councillor, Olga Thompson and the unsuccessful election bids of Carol Gibson and Ken Swanston in the October of 2016 municipal election, that majority was lost.
Early in 2017, the RPA was created. The identifiable leader/s were/are Bob Schmidt, Garry Dixon and June LeDrew. At the time, Bob Schmidt said that there were 12-14 people in the “leadership group,” but they were never fully identified or available to meet with Council. Subsequently, Rudy Thompson, an RPA member, stated that the RPA’s position is that any person is a member of the RPA if they are on the RPA’s mailing list or signed any of the RPA’s petitions.
While initially, it appeared that the RPA’s mission was to make the municipal Council and staff’s life a living hell and create a toxic environment at the council table, pitting the “beach” councillors against the balance of Council, there was a more nefarious scheme in the works. In time, it became apparent what the RPA ultimately wanted to achieve, and that they would use any means possible no matter the cost to achieve those goals.
Goal number one - to see the removal of administrator Michelle Cruz-Pratchler;
Goal number two - To change division boundaries such that the seasonal residents (beach people) elected representatives would hold a majority on Council and would forevermore control Council. It was very much a coordinated effort. Petitions were organized by the RPA leaders, calling for audits under the guise that there was financial wrongdoing by the Municipal Administrator and activities by Council that breached the requirement for the governance of the municipality as prescribed in the Saskatchewan Municipalities Act. Interestingly, the period to be audited corresponded with the exact length of Ms. Cruz-Pratchler’s employment contract.
Council sought to meet with the RPA leaders to discuss the scope of the audits. Bob Schmidt said that there were 12-14 people in the “leadership group,” but they were never fully identified or made available to meet with Council. Subsequently, audits were performed under an order by the provincial government.
Council received an email from the RPA threatening an investigation of the Council by the RCMP for Breach of Trust if Council did not call a special meeting and fire administrator, Ms. Cruz-Pratchler. Bob Schmidt did not deny the RPA sent the email. He just denied personally sending it, nor would he say who did. Council did not bend to this threat, and the RPA filed a complaint with the RCMP.
The forensic financial and managerial audit revealed that Bob Schmidt and June LeDrew were the ones that filed complaints with the RCMP as well as the provincial administrators’ association. When the RM of McKillop was no longer employing Ms. Cruz-Pratchler, the RCMP complaint was withdrawn.
By the way, the costs of the forensic and financial audit initiated by the RPA were substantial. Most importantly, though, the audits resulting in a finding that there was no financial malfeasance and that, overall, the RM was managed appropriately.
The division boundary changes started with a submission prepared by the RPA and presented to Council by Councillor LaBatte provide for five of the seven divisions to be “beach” divisions. Further Councillor LaBatte made a motion to Council that Council should adopt the new boundaries and send them to the provincial government for implementation without any public consultation.
When questioned by Council on details of the submission Councillor LaBatte was unable to answer a single question and immediately deferred to Garry Dixon and Bob Schmidt. Council defeated the motion because the process, as specified in the Saskatchewan Municipalities Act for decision boundary changes, requires a significant public process and consultations. With the defeat of the RPA’s proposal, the RPA choose to force a referendum resulting in the new divisions that we are now living with, designed by the RPA, being approved with little in the way of a consultation process.
At the time of the February 2019 municipal election in the RM of McKillop, the RPA selected candidates for all six divisions. As no one ran against Rudy Thompson and Marilyn Labatte for the two Ag/rural divisions, the RPA hand-picked candidates won all six seats.
Howard Arndt’s resignation in the spring of 2019 saw RPA member and municipal councillor Bruce Bondar become Reeve. Mr. Bondar resigned as Reeve a few months later, at which point Bob Schmidt, the leader of the RPA, was elected Reeve by acclimation.
Despite the Rate Payers’ Association being recognized in meetings with government ministry officials and in the courts regarding the 2019 tax court case, not one present sitting councillor listed any membership in or relationship with the RPA in their council declarations.
Politics can be an ugly game; having seen it and experienced it here in the RM of McKillop, I don’t miss it.
Bob Wilson is a former RM 220 councillor and lifelong resident of the RM of McKillop.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the author