The dust is far from settled in the eccentric world of Timmins city council, as two local attorneys have offered their services 'pro-bono' to censured Councillor Rick Dubeau.
Peter Doucet and Stuart Weir said that Dubeau is 'in a big fight' and felt they could no longer tolerate seeing him singled-out.
Last month, Dubeau was kicked off of all his committees. This comes after a series of heated exchanges with Mayor Steve Black over the past two years, and a refusal to apologize to members of city staff whom he called out over 'Phase 1' of the city's massive Connecting Link project.
"Nobody's suing anybody here. Nobody's asking for money or damages, that's a misconception. I approached Councillor Dubeau a few days ago because I've been watching what's going on at city hall. I've been approached by many people, some of them are lawyers, some of them are professionals, who've all expressed a serious concern about what's going on at city hall. There's that old expression 'You can't fight city hall' because city hall is a large organization that has significant resources. Apart from having staff, it has lawyers, it has a legal firm on retainer. Councillor Dubeau has none of those things," said Doucet, who operates his own law office on Pine Street.
He wanted to help because Dubeau is embroiled in issues involving legalities, closed door meetings, and being expelled from committees.
"It's that whole aura of secrecy that is concerning, as well as the Stalin-esque approach of 'if you don't agree with the party line, you're out," said Doucet.
Doucet and Weir said they will be gathering plenty of information in the coming weeks, including minutes of meetings, copies of resolutions, copies of bylaws, and that they will be asking for minutes of closed door in-camera meetings.
He is challenging Mayor Steve Black and city staff to be 'accountable' and 'transparent'.
"I'm not a fan of talk, I'm more of a fan of action. I don't believe in excuses. I truly hope that administration, Mayor and council give them to me freely and voluntarily. If they don't, I'll get them through the Freedom of Information process. It will delay this by months, but I'm very patient, I'm very persistent," said Doucet.
He said under the Municipal Act, there are certain inquiries that can be made. He said a Superior Court Justice has the authority to look into the illegal application of bylaws.
"We don't understand why things like fireworks get done behind closed doors."
Dubeau said he was happy when Doucet and Weir offered their services, as he admits he's far from a legal scholar.
"I'm a firefighter, not a lawyer. They know the system. It takes a lot of pressure off of me, having these gentlemen willing to do this on a pro-bono basis, and that they believe in this," he said.
It is no secret for anyone who pays attention to Timmins city council that it is a very divided group, regularly split 7-2.
"That's fine. I respect their vote. What I don't like is that they go to the meetings, and they don't even speak. They don't even debate. They have a responsibility to let their constituents know where they stand on these issues, and they're not doing that," said Dubeau.
He said he has received a lot of support from area residents since council's decision at the September 19 meeting, which also removed Dubeau from the city's CAO search committee. He wants to be reinstated.
Attorney Stuart Weir and Councillor Rick Dubeau. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday "Definitely. Because that's in the top 3 decisions that this council is going to make going forward. That CAO is going to be in that position for a very long time, and there's a culture at city hall that KPMG identified, that there's no accountability whatsoever. That's in black and white in the report. That next person we bring in is going to be very, very important," said Dubeau.
Weir said it was not a difficult decision for him to offer his services
"I was really troubled with what I saw at city hall. There's a clear culture of opacity, which is extremely disturbing to me, and I wanted to get involved and help out Rick any way that I could," he said.
Both lawyers intend to thoroughly investigate the legalities of several recent issues at council and city hall, although they are hopeful to have the matters resolved out of the courtroom.
"I hope that this can be settled without the necessity of an imposed result. With open meetings, full disclosure, complete accountability, and Councillor Dubeau being restored to the committees that he should be on, so that he and other Councillors can freely speak their mind as they should," said Doucet.
