In late February of 2005, Town Administration received a written request to hold a special meeting of Council to discuss a possible pecuniary conflict of interest affecting Mayor Trevor Thain. It was alleged that Mayor Thain may have voted on matters before Council that indirectly benefited his step-daughter. Specifically, Mayor Thain voted to accept the Employee Relations Committee recommendations respecting municipal employees’ salary increases for 2005.

Mayor Thain’s step-daughter is married to a municipal employee, and concern was expressed that this might have given rise to a pecuniary interest. In order to ensure Council was properly informed at the special meeting, Administration requested a legal opinion from the firm of Brownlee LLP addressing this matter. The opinion was received and discussed by Council on February 28th. Mr Derek J. King of Brownlee LLP also attended to respond to individual Councillors questions.

After Council’s discussions and the receipt of the legal advice requested, Council unanimously passed a Resolution determining that, in the circumstances, either the matter did not constitute a pecuniary conflict of interest at all under the Municipal Government Act, or if it was a pecuniary conflict of interest, it was so remote and insignificant as to have been unlikely to have influenced Mayor Thain’s vote. On this basis, Council determined that it was not in the community’s interest to pursue the matter further and therefore, no additional action on the part of the Town was required.