A supervisor has been appointed to oversee the rural community of Strait Shores in southeastern New Brunswick.
It follows the recent resignations of former mayor Jason Stokes and councillors Stacy Jones and Tanya Haynes.
“The elected council of the rural community of Strait Shores no longer has enough councillors to form quorum,” the Local Governance Commission said in a news release on Tuesday.
“This means that the council is no longer able to govern and direct the operations of the rural community.”
Greg Lutes has been appointed as the supervisor and will remain in place until the next municipal election in May 2026.
Why did the council members resign?
The three council members who resigned all cited negative interactions with fellow councillor Andy MacGregor.
MacGregor was sanctioned by Jones, Haynes and Deputy Mayor Annamarie Boyd over comments he made during a meeting in February.
He had introduced 12 different motions on several topics and proposed timelines for many of them.
“Tonight is just the start of what we must all be willing to accept and implement into our very own Strait Shores government. It will give us the guidance and structure that will ultimately unite us all. It’s our responsibility,” MacGregor said during the meeting.
“If you feel that for any reason, you can not work within this system, I would strongly encourage you to resign for the betterment of Strait Shores.”
Stokes resigned after that meeting, followed by Jones on March 26 and Haynes over the weekend.
As part of his sanctions, MacGregor was not allowed to contact municipal staff or councillors or enter municipal offices while a third-party investigation was underway.
Complaint to Local Governance Commission
MacGregor complained to the Local Governance Commission, which ruled last week that Boyd and Haynes had violated council’s own code of conduct by sanctioning him.
Commission members determined that no formal complaint had been filed against MacGregor and that he was sanctioned before due process had taken place.
In addition, the commission said suspensions are not sanctions available under the municipality’s code of conduct bylaw, and even if they were, they cannot be imposed for longer than 90 days.
Further, the commission found the breaches by Boyd and Haynes “were not malicious, but rather, the result of a lack of understanding of the principles of procedural fairness and the requirements” set out in the bylaw.
Commission members recommended that MacGregor’s suspension be lifted and that the entire council undertake code of conduct, governance and procedural fairness training.
