Question of conflict on Summerland council

By Susan McIverFriday, January 12, 2007 http://www.pentictonherald.ca/article_2811.php (FULL ARTICLE)
SUMMERLAND — A municipal councillor took steps to keep her rental properties while blocking future agricultural property owners from having the same opportunities, thanks to a motion she made at Summerland council Monday night.Coun. Lorraine Bennest has been playing a key role in recent council decisions cracking down on farm labour accommodations used as full-time rental properties while receiving rental income from houses on her own orchard.On Monday, Bennest made a motion that would put an end to the full-time rentals of secondary dwellings on farmland. However, the same motion grandfathered all existing full-time rentals — including her own.

Other councillors are now suggesting Bennest should have stepped back from the table, and while Bennest herself now said it might appear “two-faced,” she did not consider consulting anyone — either staff or other council members — about a possible conflict.“It never occurred to me that it would be a conflict of interest,” Bennest said Wednesday evening.“I didn’t know about it (Bennest’s rental property income) until Monday morning’s council of the whole meeting,” said Coun. Bruce Hallquist. No one at the council table raised the question of a possible conflict of interest.Monday evening, council voted 4-3 to approve a motion made by Bennest to amend the zoning bylaws with regard to farm labour housing.