Members of city council at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new arena and aquatics centre this summer. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil and Nigel Maxwell

Legal drama at City Hall

Lawsuit alleges councillor in conflict with arena vote

Nov 29, 2022 | 5:00 PM

UPDATED

In a copy of a legal action filed against Councillor Dawn Kilmer and the City of Prince Albert, former councillor Evert Botha claims Kilmer was in a conflict in dealings related to the new arena project and her former position as a director for the Prince Albert Raiders.

Botha claims that Kilmer was both a Raiders director and councillor when she voted on multiple motions regarding the construction of the new arena and its financing and alleges she received financial compensation for her position with the team.

“I understand that all directors of the Raiders received one if not two season tickets as remuneration for serving as directors,” Botha said in his statement.

When contacted by paNOW for further comment, Botha explained on the advice from his lawyer, he has no comment at this time since the matter is before the court.

THIS IS A PLEA FOR HELP!

Mayor in Loon Lake requests support in wake of criminal activity, church fire

7h ago

Election 2024

Another candidate to run in Prince Albert's Ward 5

10h ago

Trevor LaPlante death

Preliminary inquiry set for man accused in LaPlante murder

13h ago

By not declaring the conflict, Botha alleges Kilmer broke the law regarding councillor declarations of conflict of interest.

Kilmer was first elected to council Nov. 9 and was sworn into office Nov. 13, 2020.

The claim outlines a timeline of council decisions regarding the arena project starting in 2019 and running until September of this year.

Botha alleges in his claim that the five-to-four council vote approving the arena and aquatics centre project would not have proceeded without Kilmer’s vote in favour.

He said Kilmer should resign as a result.

However, according to information confirmed by paNOW, Kilmer resigned her Raiders board position on Nov. 23, 2020, just over a week after she was sworn in.

Team Manager Michael Scissons confirmed they received Kilmer’s resignation and that there were no board meetings until Dec. 1, so Kilmer never attended any meetings as both a councillor and a director.

COVID delays, along with the Raider’s fiscal year of June 1 to May 31, resulted in the change not being formalized until the end of September 2022.

Noting Kilmer’s experience as an educator and volunteer, Mayor Greg Dionne called the case ridiculous.

“She’s done nothing wrong. This is a frivolous case and it won’t take long to get rid of it in court. This is one of the reasons you can’t get good people to run for council because they have to put up with this negativity,” he said.

The court matters will not impact Kilmer’s current status on council.

Dionne recalled how after being elected, Kilmer came to him personally and explained how she had resigned from the Raiders board, as she did not want there to be a conflict of interest.

“Maybe I’m in conflict because I have a jacket with the Raiders names on it,” he said.

Going forward, Dionne encouraged people to look at who’s filing the complaint and compare the two.

“Who’s the real good citizen here?” he asked.

In recent weeks, the city has come under attack by a group calling itself PABRAG, in which Botha has taken a leadership role.

One of the central issues has been to do with the city’s aquatics and arenas project and why the city paid $9 million for the parcel of land, when a separate parcel the same size was sold for $325,000.

In the past the city has answered the question on multiple occasions to no avail. Expressing his frustration over what he terms “misinformation”, Dionne said the two parcels are not comparable, and the real estate agent working with PABRAG continues spread the false story.

“He’s a real estate agent, he’s not an appraiser, and there’s a big difference in between being an appraiser and putting a value to something than being a real estate agent. I just wish he would do his job,” Dionne said.

Kilmer did not want to comment on the claim. The first hearing on the matter is set for Dec. 13 in Court of King’s Bench.

The allegations in the lawsuit have not been tested before the courts.

Curtis Hunt, the general manager of the Prince Albert Raiders issued the following statement:

To Raider season ticket holders, fans alike and the good people of Prince Albert and surrounding areas. On Nov. 29, an article in PA Now written by Susan McNeil and Nigel Maxwell titled ‘LEGAL DRAMA AT CITY HALL’ quoted a gentleman that made false claims about our organization and board. We are a community run nonprofit organization governed by a volunteer board.

The Board of Directors is nominated and elected by the membership. The current Board has 11 members. They meet with me and the business manager every 6-8 weeks, their primary responsibility is policy and reviewing the financial information of the club.

They do not have input into the day-to-day operations of the hockey or business of the club. Each member of the Board is a season ticket holder, and in most cases, they have multiple season tickets. They pay for their own tickets as does everybody else.

In addition, many members of our board are corporate sponsors.

The Raider Board generously donated their time a to the club with no compensation. They are leaders and stewards in the community. We are grateful for their support and commitment to the Raiders as well as the entire community.

Editor’s Note: paNOW edited the story at 3:45 p.m. on Nov. 30 to include a statement from the Prince Albert Raiders Hockey Club clarifying the role of their volunteer board of directors.

—

panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow