Reeve of RM Sherwood tossed from office over land deal conflicts

Following release of a damning report about a land deal and conflict of interest inthe Rural Municipality of Sherwood, the Saskatchewan government has removedReeveKevinEberle.

Government Relations Minister JimReitersaidhe was shocked and disgusted byEberle'sconduct in the Wascana Village affair, calling it an egregious conflict of interest.

Justice Ministry officials havenowturned the file over to theRCMP for a criminal investigation.

RM pursued $2B development

Thescathing report by retired Queen's Bench justice Ron Barclay released Thursday found serious conflicts of interest and violations of public trust in connection with theWascana Village proposal.

Serious damage has been done to the office of reeve as well as to the integrity and credibility of the RM as a whole.- Ron Barclay's report

That's the proposed community of 14,000 people that the RM wanted to build to the southeast of Regina. Barclay said it was potentially a $2 billion development.

Eberle and his family ownmuch of the land the development was to be built on.

Reeve called 'highly unethical'

Eberle claimed he recusedhimself from any RM decisions involving Wascana Village, but Barclay said his behaviour was "highly unethical"promoting the project behind the scenes.

"Reeve Eberle's actions fall far below any standard by which I was asked to assess his conduct," Barclay wrote in the 158-page report. "Unfortunately, the opportunity to earn significant profits has interfered with his moral compass."

Among the findings in the report:

• Eberle stood to gain roughly$58million on land sales and profits from theWascanaVillage project.
• Eberle took a "not appropriate" interest in trying to find a water supply for the RM, something crucial for Wascana Village to succeed.
• Whena press conference to announceWascanaVillage was held in May 2013, Eberlewas already receiving profits from thedevelopment company.
• He was involved in altering the minutes of a meeting concerning Wascana Villageto make it appear he wasn't involved.
• He instructed an RM employee to destroy documents implicating him in Wascana Village.

"In sum, the conduct of Reeve Eberle, as outlined above, coupled with his lack of recognition of the effect of his conduct, and lack of remorse, has left me to conclude that serious damage has been done to the office of reeve as well as to the integrity and credibility of the RM as a whole," Barclay said in the report.

I am left to conclude that the Council blindly (no cost-benefit analysis, no mandate, no due diligence) pursued theWascanaVillage Development for the simple sake of development.- Barclay report

Eberle has been replaced by an interim reeve appointed by the province.

Questions asked about RM council

While Eberle took the brunt of the criticism, Barclay also had some choice words for the Sherwood council.

"I am left to conclude that the Council blindly (no cost-benefit analysis, no mandate, no due diligence) pursued the Wascana Village Development for the simple sake of development," he wrote.

Regina not pleased with Wascana Village proposal

For months, the Wascana Village project was asource of friction between the RM of Sherwood and the City of Regina.

The city has its own plans for expanding beyond itsborders and didn't look favourably on a 14,000-resident community being developedon its doorstep. The city and RM later mended their fences somewhat, with an agreement on how to move forward with planning, although the WascanaVillage proposal remained a sticking point.

Deputy Reeve Tim Probe said Thursday that he disagreed with portions of the report.

"I think he [Eberle] did things properly," Probe said. "Were there some errors in judgments? Probably, but I think they were on the minor side."

Probe said the RM is putting in place bylaws to guide officials when they have an interest in a matter as well as a bylaw on ethics.