St. Andrews mayor takes RM to court after being stripped of duties

The mayor of St. Andrews is taking her municipality to court after council members stripped her of certain responsibilities last month.

"We're in a democracy. This should never have happened," said Joy Sul. "This was never done with any former mayor. I'm singled out. Why?"

According to an application filed to the Queen's Bench on Friday, thecouncil"acted in excess of its jurisdiction" when they voted to remove council chair and spokesperson responsibilities from the mayor. The document states the process was "undemocratic," and asks that the resolutions removing Sul bequashed, effectively giving herback her full duties.

"It's unreasonable," said Norman Boudreau, Sul's lawyer. "How can five members of a council remove an elected official as head of the council? That decision is not to be taken by the members of council, but by the population who put that individual in the place of mayor."

The 'group of five'

Sul was elected mayor in October 2018 with more than 61 per cent of the vote. Last year, the council started to become divided between the mayor and five of the six councillors, who residents now call "the group of five."

After Sul was stripped of those duties in December through changes in a municipal bylaw, an emergency meeting was held to vote for a new council chair and designate a new spokesperson.

"That's the fundamental reason why the mayor is at the head of the council essentially to be the chair of the council," said Boudreau. "So if you use a bylaw to remove the mayor from the position, you essentially remove all of the power."

Sul says she still can sign off on chequesand can participate in council discussions, but she's unsure of what else she can do.

"This is so hard because it's so unprecedented, and it's not really clarified," she said.

Past problems in council, says deputy mayor

The Rural Municipality of St. Andrews and Deputy Mayor John Preun are both named as respondents in the application.

Preun told CBC News that he hasn't received any court documents yet. He said he's "not surprised" the mayor went through a legal route.

"It just falls into a kind of a pattern of behaviour that she had been using all along," Preun said.

"Whenever she doesn't agree with something, she's all off to the ombudsman, or she's up to a lawyer, or to seek legal advice, or to a higher level of government because she's not happy with what's going on."

Preun said problems in council started shortly after the 2018 election. He said Sul would try and change bylaws without total understanding of council, and that she was "biased" in council meetings. Last year, he said Sul wrote public letterson behalf of council about the South St. Andrews Wastewater project without council approval.

"That was the last straw," said Preun."She has abused her power of trust in all of us."

Respect questioned in council

Sul said she believes she was stripped of her duties because new councillors don't understand their roles,and "everybody wants to be the boss."

"It's best described as a mob mentality," she said. "There has to be respect. Somehow, this council has to come together and work together because we were elected to act in the best interest of the residents."

Going forward, Preun said he's unsure what council meetings will be like now that the court is involved.

"I think that she's probably going to create more chaos in council, but this time she's not chair, so she can be stopped. Hopefully, she'll respect the laws of parliamentary procedures," he said.

"She's still a human being, and we're going to treat her with respect, but the thing is, that has to come back from her, too."

A court hearing has been set for Jan. 21.