LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche County council will be voting on the appointment of an Integrity Commissioner at a later date, following more than two hours of discussion in closed session.
Prior to going in to closed session, Mayor Paul Reutov made a motion “to waive provision 13-2 of the meeting procedures by law; and to direct administration not to record the names or attendance records of the closed session attendees for Item 9.1 in the minutes of the April 8, 2025, regular council meeting.”
Ward 7 Coun. Lorin Tkachuk asked if the procedures bylaw could be updated so a motion is not required in future.
“It's always been for interviews. So if we could just make that provision, then procedurally, it would just be a lot smoother,” said Tkachuk.
The motion carried with unanimous support and no further discussion. Council made a motion to go in to closed session at 1:11 p.m. and did not return to open session until 3:37 p.m.
When open session resumed, a motion directing administration “to negotiate the service agreement with the selected proponent, and further that the agreement be brought forward to council for an approval at the time of the Integrity Commissioner appointment vote,” was brought forward by Mayor Paul Reutov.
“There was a long discussion in closed session, and I hope . . . a lot of those types of discussions moving forward will hopefully be done in an open session,” said Reutov.
He said more information would be brought forward to future council meetings.
The motion carried 7-1, with Ward 1 Coun. Darlene Beniuk voting against it.
