Richmond County councillors looking to resolve conflicts

The source of internal conflict among members of theRichmond County council is, in part, due to a change in warden back in October 2014, say two councillors.

Councillors Gail Johnson and Rod Samson told CBC Radio'sInformation Morning in Cape Breton onWednesday thatthe vote to replace Steve Sampson with Victor David as warden created conflict amongcouncil members.

"There was a division right off the pick handle,"Johnson said. "We weren't getting all the information around the table."

Johnson added some councillors were being called to meetings, while others only found out about them later.

Samson said he noticed that after the change in warden, council votes suddenly went from often being unanimous to votes with ties or narrow margins.

Talk of mediation

Samson said he was in favour of bringing in former Halifax CAO Ken Meech, whom the province had offered up as a mediator to work with the council, but that motion was voted down at Monday's council meeting.

Johnson, who voted against the motion, feels strongly that council should go back to its former practice of having quarterly meetings where councillors could hash out their differences and if the county did go with a mediator that it should be someone of council's own choosing.

In the meantime, she's satisfied that an upcoming council investigation by the provincial ombudsman will be helpful.

"Council needs to get back to business," said Johnson, adding that councillors are trying to schedule a meeting for Monday to try and settle some differences and discuss tourism strategy.