BLACK RIVER-MATHESON - A group of councillors in a Northern Ontario township continue to boycott meetings in hopes of triggering a byelection.
Tonight's (March 26) Black River-Matheson council meeting was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. It's the third consecutive meeting that has been cancelled because there weren't enough members in attendance.
Mayor Doug Bender and councillors Chantal Rondeau and Allana Schmidt were the members in attendance. Schmidt was late to log into the meeting, showing up just before it was officially cancelled.
Councillors Dave Dyment, Louise Gadoury and Steven Campsall did not attend. Coun. Keith Neal resigned last month, but there hasn't been a meeting held to accept his resignation or determine how he will be replaced.
The council members and township staffer James Lefebvre were in the meeting for 15 minutes before it was called. They talked about the Empire Complex fire that ravaged a historic building in Timmins over the weekend, and Rondeau commented on the number of surveyors recently in Holtyre and on Highway 572.
Bender waited until 16 minutes had passed to cancel the meeting.
He expressed disappointment in not having it because there was lots of business on the agenda.
Dyment, Gadoury and Campsall have said they are boycotting meetings and are trying to have the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing step in.
If a municipal council can’t hold a meeting for 60 days because of a lack of quorum, the Municipal Act says that the Minister of Municipal Affairs may declare all of the seats vacant, triggering a byelection.
SEE: Three Matheson councillors boycotting meetings to try and force byelection
RELATED: Scheme to force Matheson byelection 'just not going to happen' predicts CAO
The last time that council publicly met was Jan. 23.
Its Feb. 13 meeting was cancelled due to a CUPE rally that day. Short of quorum, the Feb. 27 and March 12 meetings were cancelled. They did meet in-camera on Feb. 20.
SEE: Matheson closes town hall, cancels council meeting for 'safety concerns'
RELATED: One member short of quorum, Matheson council meeting cancelled
The township has a seven-person council and at least four members must be present for the meeting to happen.
Tonight's agenda included a report from CAO Chris Wray regarding a request for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to conduct a review of the township’s financial and administrative practices, policies and procedures.
The request, according to the report, is in light of the township being the “subject of unfair and inappropriate criticism from some ratepayers through community Facebook pages.”
Wray believes the “critics should come under the scrutiny of the” ministry.
Wray’s report can be found here.
