A byelection is coming for Beaumont residents, after an unpaid bill prompted a town councillor to step down.
Sabrina Powers was elected town councillor on October 16, and she said in a Facebook post that she found out weeks after the election that she owed money to the Town of Beaumont.
Powers paid the outstanding bill – but according to the Local Authority Elections Act, any money owed to the municipality has to be paid in full as of nomination day (which was September 16).
“We’re talking within ten to 15 minutes of finding out that I owed, I paid it immediately, no questions asked,” Powers said in an interview with CTV News.
The bill had gone unpaid long enough for it to be tacked onto her property taxes, which is against the rules while holding public office.
“Technically I should have been disqualified, but because I’d already been sworn in and I’d already started my duties there had to be other options,” Powers said.
According to Powers, the mayor and other councillors asked for her to resign – one of three options Powers said were available to handle the situation. The other options were dismissal of the issue with a three-year statute of limitation, and asking for the issue to go before the Court of Queen’s Bench (Powers said she had said she would cover costs associated with that option).
“It’s hard, it’s hard for sure,” Powers said.
“They asked me to resign, I chose to resign, I absolutely didn’t have to, but my thought process was: ‘If all your colleagues asked for your resignation, what would you do?’”
Powers apologized to her former colleagues and Beaumont residents for how events transpired.
Now, a byelection will have to be called in the next 90 days, and while Powers has the option to seek her seat on council again, she’s not sure if she will.
With files from Jeremy Thompson
