Former councillor Greg Bochkarev will receive a cheque for half of his legal costs from his court case with Lac La Biche County – providing he signs a final release saying he can’t request any further reimbursement.
Council discussed the exact amount Bochkarev was to be reimbursed at a meeting in council chambers Tuesday evening. The former councillor also requested $1,717.60 in travel costs, but council chose to stick with the decision made at the regular council meeting on Sept. 13, which was to only repay half of his court costs. The sum of $29,387.04 will be paid to Bochkarev from the municipality’s contingency fund, which are special reserves set aside to cover unexpected costs and losses.
A special provision was added to require Bochkarev to sign a final release before receiving the money, stating that he can’t petition for full reimbursement at a later date. Bochkarev had unsuccessfully asked council twice before for his court costs, totalling $58,774.08, to be refunded from a conflict of interest case involving his construction company being awarded work from a vote he was involved in.
The conflict of interest wasn’t raised until months later, at which time Bochkarev was asked to resign. He declined, and the matter escalated to the Court of Queen’s Bench where Justice Marceau found that although Bochkarev had put himself in a conflict of interest, he had acted in “good faith” with “no indication of wilful blindness,” and he shouldn’t be disqualified from council.
In a Jan. 31, 2011 letter to council, Bochkarev said that he believed that his costs should be reimbursed because he believed that the county had other avenues, including discussion, that they could have explored besides going to court – which he called “the harshest, most expensive option.” Also, since the judge dismissed the application for him to be removed from council, Bochkarev felt that counted as a win and thus entitled him to remuneration as the winning party. Finally, he listed personal bias from several councillors on the previous council as a deterrent to him being fairly reimbursed.
The decision to repay even half of Bochkarev’s fees on Sept. 13 passed by a very tight vote of 5-4. County CAO Duane Coleman noted that they had received numerous legal opinions on the matter that stated that council was not legally required to reimburse Bochkarev. Mayor Peter Kirylchuk was also opposed, saying that Bochkarev should have just stepped down as councillor and that he should pay the consequences of being in the wrong.
“How can we say we’re half wrong when we were told we are 100 per cent right,” asked councillor Eugene Uganecz during the meeting on Sept. 13. “It’s a good way to give away taxpayer’s money.”