A suit has been filed against members of the St. Albert Senior Citizens’ club over a long-simmering dispute over the group’s bylaws.
Bob Russell, chair of a recently formed group Seniors for Seniors, on Tuesday filed the suit that asks for a reversal of recent changes to club bylaws and for a fine to be levied against the board members.
The two bylaws at issue oversee how the club sets membership dues and how it elects members to the board.
Previously, the club set membership dues at an annual general meeting with all members getting a vote.
The recent change, which Russell claims was done inappropriately, now allows the club’s board of directors to set membership dues.
The other disputed bylaw change involves the creation of a nominating committee that preselects potential candidates for the board. Russell called the new process undemocratic.
“The nominating committee was given the authority under that bylaw to decide who could run and they turfed a long-term member who had served two terms,” he said. “To me that is not democracy.”
The statement of claim alleges those two bylaw changes were made at a special board meeting last October, rather than at the club’s annual general meeting in April.
It also states the board has ignored motions Russell put forward at the annual general meeting, aiming to rescind those changes.
Russell said he and the other members of his group hoped to avoid taking this route, but he feels they have been left with little other choice.
He said the club’s board was well warned that filing suit was possible.
“We have done all we could to settle this without going to court and we told them we would go to court if they didn’t step up to this.”
Even though defending the suit will cost the club money, Russell said he felt taking no action would be worse, because the club’s finances are suffering.
If this club doesn’t get sorted out in the next few months they “are not going to be around next year, because they are going into a financial black hole,” he said.
Club president Jim Laing, who has yet to be served with the suit, was unavailable when the Gazette attempted to reach him Friday.
Russell made the same complaints in early June as part of a private information alleging a breach of the Alberta Societies Act.
In that case, the provincial court judge declined to proceed on the matter because of problems with the paperwork. The judge also did not believe he had the power to do what Russell was requesting.
In response to that private information, Laing said he felt the board has acted appropriately and with member support.
“I think we have pretty clear direction from the club, and that is what we are looking at.”
None of the allegations in the statement of claim have been proven in court.
