Fort Frances Council meeting, April 25, 2022
No sanctions, but the mayor of Fort Frances has been found to have twice violated conflict of interest guidelines.
The allegations stem from closed-door meetings last October over Sunny Cove Camp and in November on a legal demand letter directed at June Caul.
The complaints were made anonymously.
Integrity Commissioner Paul Heayn says the mayor should have declared a conflict both times but didn’t.
“I have concluded that there was indirect pecuniary interest in the matter considered at the Council Meeting of October 25, 2021, because the matter being discussed by Council in-camera regarding the disposition of the property and the obligation of the Town to afford the club the first right of refusal if the Town were to sell the property, and Mayor Caul simply by being a member of the Kiwanis Club (which had a pecuniary interest) therefore had an indirect pecuniary interest in the matter.
Consequently, Mayor Caul should have declared a Conflict and removed herself from the meeting while the matter was discussed,” writes Heayn in his report.
He adds, “I have concluded that there was direct pecuniary interest in the matter considered at the Council Meeting of November 8, 2021, because the matter being discussed by Council in-camera regarding a legal demand letter was expressly concerned about quoted comments attributed to the Mayor in the Fort Frances Times. Mayor Caul should have declared a Conflict and removed herself from the meeting while the matter was discussed.”
Despite his findings, Heayn says he is not turning the matter over to a court judge, an option available in conflict of interest complaints.
He says an elector, lawyer or other member of council would have been better qualified to make that request but had to do so within six weeks of the alleged violations and had not.
Caul questioned the ruling related to her involvement in the discussion of Sunny Cove Camp.
While a director of the Kiwanis Club at the time, she says there was no benefit going to the club by council’s discussion at the time.
“And what the big problem is, it is beyond me. Just because I’m a member of the Kiwanis Club, I have not got any other interests other than what the town of Fort Frances has plans to do with this property because they’re the ones who own it now,” says Caul.
