lunenburg town council says it cannot act in mayor's dispute involving local taxi company
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the town of lunenburg says it cannot take any action against mayor jamie myra after an alleged incident between him and a local transportation company earlier this month.
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tourism nova scotia
lunenburg town council says it does not have the legislative authority to take action over allegations involving mayor jamie myra and the owner of a local transportation company after meeting privately to receive legal advice on the matter.
in a statement issued tuesday, the town of lunenburg said council held a special public meeting monday before moving to a closed session to consider events alleged to have taken place june 12 and 13 involving myra.
council also met with saltwind transportation owner simon gordon ahead of the session. myra did not attend either meeting, according to the news release.
“through careful consideration and legal advice, council concluded we are not empowered through any legislation to take any action related to this matter,” the statement said.
council said it hoped myra and saltwind transportation have resolved the matter themselves, while urging residents to treat those involved fairly and respectfully.
saltwind calls for formal process
the statement follows a public dispute that drew widespread attention after saltwind shared its account of an alleged incident involving myra.
saltwind had said it would be temporarily suspending service because of the backlash gordon said he and his family faced following the company’s public account of the incident. on june 20, saltwind announced it would be back in operation.
“saltwind will continue to serve our local and visiting clients the way we have since our launch, with hospitality, community focus, and a commitment to safe transportation for everyone who rides with us,” gordon said in a statement posted to facebook.
he said he appreciated council meeting with him and said the town’s statement supported saltwind’s initial position that there is no process for residents to address concerns regarding municipal leaders.
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“in the absence of a clear process for ordinary citizens to raise concerns about the conduct of municipal leaders, we felt our only available recourse was to place our account of events into the public sphere,” he said.
he added that saltwind hoped council and the province would work toward legislation and create “a robust, evidence-based mechanism for conduct reviews.”
myra says he will reflect
myra, in a separate facebook statement, thanked council for reviewing the information, adding that the past two weeks have been difficult for the community and his family.
“social media is challenging for all of us to engage in and respond to and when events transpire and are echoed it is difficult to determine the truth and make fair, informed decisions,” myra wrote.
he added that gordon and saltwind did not deserve the negative comments they had been getting online and in person and asked residents to be kind to one another.
lunenburg mayor jamie myra says he will be taking time to reflect on the recent situation involving himself and local business saltwind transportation.
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bacalao photo
myra said he would be taking time to reflect on the situation.
“as your mayor, i accept there is a higher expectation placed on me and i want to learn from this experience,” he said.
in his statement, myra said he would be away from council for the next two weeks for a family event out of the country.
the town of lunenburg said myra was unavailable for further comment.
council said it was concerned about the impact of the dispute and social media fallout on those involved, as well as the negative attention the issue brought to the town.
“we look forward to returning to the important business of governing the town of lunenburg for the benefit of all of our citizens and the town,” the release said.
coun. alison strachan declined to comment, while other councillors did not respond. gordon could not be immediately reached for comment.
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