A mass exodus of elected officials from a rural Manitoba municipality has put the community in limbo and may force the province to disband what’s left of the crumbling council.
On April 9, four of Armstrong’s six RM board members – Paul Humeny, Ted Sumka, Pat Stein and Brent Dziadek – submitted letters of resignation, effective immediately.
This leaves only the RM’s Reeve Kate Basford and one other councillor.
“The province has been informed of the situation and we will work closely with them to ensure municipal services continue to be provided,” the municipality’s acting CAO Nancy Howell told CTV News in an email.
Howell could not share the reasons for the resignations and declined an interview.
CTV News reached out to all four councilors for comment but has not yet received a response.
What happens now?
The mass resignation means the rural council has lost its quorum: under the Manitoba Municipal Act, at least three elected officials are needed for a council to function.
A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba’s Municipal and Northern Relations department is in the process of appointing an administrator who will ensure the municipality’s daily operations continue.
But this will also lead to the dissolution of the remaining council, according to the province.
“Under the Municipal Act…if a provincial administrator is appointed, all remaining council members and the chief administrative officer are deemed to have resigned,” the spokesperson told CTV News in an email.
They said by-elections for all council seats will be planned “as soon as practically possible”.
In response to this, Basford told CTV News that he has not been told what this means for the future of Armstrong’s council or his position on the matter.
“I have not resigned. I was elected,” she said. “No one has told me otherwise, so I’m not going to speculate. I’m the judge until someone tells me otherwise.”
Basford said right now Armstrong’s RM is “in limbo” until the province intervenes and a by-election is called.
“Unfortunately, that’s not something that happens overnight,” Basford said. “My understanding is that it may take three to six months.”
Has this happened before?
This is not the first time a Manitoba municipality has faced a situation like this.
In 2019, the city of Teulon lost a quorum after three of the five council members resigned. This led to the appointment of an administrator, the dissolution of the remaining council and a by-election.
That same year, the rural council of Norfolk Treherne saw four of its seven council members resign. However, in this case, with three council members remaining, a quorum was maintained and a by-election was held to fill the vacant seats.
The complaint led to the order for mandatory harassment prevention training: province
Basford told CTV News that he was not at last Tuesday’s meeting when the four councilors resigned and does not know why they made this decision.
“There is a harassment problem within this municipality and I will not speak further about it until things happen,” Basford said, adding that Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health had to intervene.
A provincial spokesperson confirmed that Occupational Health and Safety received a complaint, but did not provide further details about it. They said this prompted an improvement order in late March requiring Armstrong Rural Municipality to train its staff on its harassment prevention policy.
Basford said he has not spoken to any of the former councilors since their resignations.
“I regret that the council has chosen to go down this path. These are their options and, yes, I wish them luck and we will continue to do what we need to do and be an effective municipality.”
Armstrong’s RM is located about an hour’s drive north of Winnipeg.