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Councillor says leaving meeting was best option

Lac La Biche County councillor John Mondal says he has no connections to gas station and intersection project

LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche County councillor John Mondal wasn't too sure if he should leave a recent council meeting where discussion was about to begin on a new business development in the municipality. But in a  'better-safe-than-sorry'' mind-set, the first-term councillor decided to leave, telling other council members that he was in a conflict. 

Mondal and Lac La Biche County Mayor Paul Reutov both excused themselves from the discussion about a new gas station project on Highway 55, just west of the Lac La Biche hamlet. The project, which has also triggered the need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an adjacent intersection, is on property owned by Reutov. Up until last December, Mondal was an employee of Reutov.

When asked later why he left the meeting, Mondal said he wasn't  entirely sure if he should have excused himself — and had been thinking about it since he had been sitting outside the meeting. In the absence of Legislative Services staff at the time of the meeting, Mondal said he was told by senior administration that the decision was his, but was advised to err on the side of caution.

"I agreed that it was better to be safe than sorry," said Mondal who said he has no professional or business ties to the property or the new project.

No connection

Although he was an employee of Reutov's at the time of the 2021 municipal election, Mondal said he adjusted that working relationship shortly after.

Mondal said he has been asked a few times since the meeting why he left, and he says it was simply over an abundance of caution.

"I was confused, I'll admit that — but I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing, and I didn't want anything to come back that would jeopardize council or our decisions," he said.

Being an employee in a business with direct ties to municipal projects is not necessarily a mandated reason for an elected official to announce a conflict of interest, say municipal officials.

Councillors working in businesses along Main Street, or with ties to those businesses, for example, have not had to declare conflicts during the recent $25 million upgrades to the downtown area.

Conflicts of interest, or pecuniary interests are explained for council members in the Municipal Government Act and information from Alberta Municipal Affairs. 

Lac La Biche County spokesperson Jihad Moghrabi says it’s up to each elected official to understand pecuniary interests  and declare them as required.

"It isn’t Administration’s role to interpret the pecuniary interest section of the Municipal Government Act and, or require Councillors to leave meetings during specific discussions," he said.


Rob McKinley

About the Author: Rob McKinley

Rob has been in the media, marketing and promotion business for 30 years, working in the public sector, as well as media outlets in major metropolitan markets, smaller rural communities and Indigenous-focused settings.
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