Rocky View County (RVC) council has dropped its sanctions appeal by the slimmest of margins.
A 2-2 vote saw the motion to continue the action against three of its councillors defeated. The three councillors in question, Kevin Hanson, Crystal Kissel, and Samanntha Wright, abstained from the vote.
Councillors Greg Boehlke and Al Schule, who were members of the council at the time the sanctions were imposed, wanted to continue the appeal. Newly-elected mayor Don Kochan and Div. 6 councillor Sunny Sumra wanted to put it in the past.
It's been a long-drawn-out court proceeding that saw the sanctions on the three councillors set aside by Justice James Eamon last July.
On June 11, 2019, the RVC council voted to sanction the three councillors under its code of conduct bylaw for providing privileged county legal information to unauthorized parties, and for disrespectful and discourteous communications.
The councillors took the matter to court.
An effort to have the appeal dropped before the fall election was unsuccessful.
Before the Nov. 30 meeting of the RVC council, Councillor Wright questioned the rationale behind continuing with the appeal.
"Why are we dragging this on for?" questions Wright. "That's old history. It's old news. It serves no purpose. With this council, we need to start on a fresh footing and move on."
She said no matter which way the appeal decision went, the only thing that could come out of it would be someone would be able to say they were right.
Wed, May 1, 11:30 AM
