St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse says his vote to approve an additional $184,000 for the city’s Healing Garden project does not constitute a conflict of interest.
Although his wife Gwen Crouse chairs the volunteer committee overseeing the project, Crouse said he would have voted the same way regardless of who is chairing the committee.
Crouse’s vote would not qualify as a conflict of interest according to the Municipal Government Act, which refers only to “pecuniary interests” of councillors – that is, cases where a councillor or family member stands to benefit financially from a decision made at the council table.
“Is it a conflict by the act? Certainly not,” Crouse said.
St. Albert’s councillor code of conduct likewise refers to pecuniary interest, but is silent on the issue of conflict as it relates to volunteer positions.
With respect to the optics of the decision, he said he thought the optics were “great” because a city the size of St. Albert is a leader in terms of addressing the recommendations laid out in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report.
The city’s Healing Garden project is meant to bring recognition and awareness of survivors of Indian residential schools in St. Albert, and create a space for education and cultural understanding across the Sturgeon River from St. Albert Place.
At the July 11 meeting, council narrowly defeated Coun. Tim Osborne’s motion to approve an additional $184,000 in funding for the Healing Garden project, which would have more than doubled the project’s initial $119,100 budget.
An administrative report cited problems at the site discovered following a geotechnical analysis. Councillors ultimately voted 4-3 against approving the extra funding, but to instead work with the committee to explore alternative sites.
Osborne, Crouse and Coun. Wes Brodhead voted in support of the additional funding, while other councillors cited concerns with the cost overruns as reasons to vote against it and consider other potential sites.
Crouse noted it’s not at all unusual for a councillor or their family member to be involved in a volunteer committee while council considers providing funding to groups like the legion, the Rotary Club or the community hall.
“I could probably list 50 times in my 12 years on council where there has been an individual or family member that I know of serving on a committee in the community,” he said.
