City of Powell River council has released a summary of a legal opinion in response to a letter from a former city councillor.
Gordon Crawford, who served on council in the 1980s and 1990s and has unsuccessfully run for election four times since then, wrote a letter to Mayor Dave Formosa and council in May about Formosa’s “potential conflict of interest.” In the letter, Crawford detailed the companies involved in PRSC Limited Partnership, a company owned by the city, Catalyst Paper Corporation and Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation. Crawford detailed Formosa’s partnership with Tla’amin in a different company that owns the Lund Hotel.
Crawford erroneously wrote that Formosa was a director of the Sliammon Development Corporation, but in fact he is a non-voting member of the board. Crawford also wrote that as mayor, Formosa is promoting the idea of the city creating a utility in partnership with Tla’amin to build a run-of-river facility in Freda Creek.
“I question whether it is proper for Mayor Formosa to participate in city business that involves the Sliammon First Nation and its affiliates and would recommend that the city and Mayor Formosa seek separate legal advice regarding his potential conflict of interest,” Crawford wrote.
The city did seek the advice of Lidstone and Company. Council voted at the June 7 council meeting to release a summary of that legal opinion to the public and Sheri Konkin, deputy clerk, read it out loud.
“We can confirm that upon careful investigation and review of the facts and of the relevant law, we are of the opinion that Mayor Formosa does not have a conflict of interest, either pecuniary or common law, in relation to the Freda Creek project or PRSC,” the letter stated. “As a result, we do not think the mayor is prohibited from participating and voting in relation to either of these matters.”
