Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Nova Scotia town council quits en masse

In a surprising move, the seven-person town council of Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, has resigned, following the launch of an RCMP investigation into a potential theft.  And with Tuesday’s resignation, the idyllic community of Bridgetown, a two-hour drive from Halifax in the Annapolis Valley, has been temporarily left without any local government and a lot of questions about possible missing funds.  A statement on the town’s website said: “Due to the magnitude and complexity of the Town’s financial problems and the lack of financial and human resources to manage them…Town Council of the Town of Bridgetown agreed to resign to make way for a quicker resolution of the Town’s present difficulties.” Acting Chief Administrative Officer for the town, Grant Cooke, told the Star the resignation of the town council was precipitated by the fact that they “didn’t know the extent of the problem and they didn’t have the resources to deal with it.”  Financial issues began to arise last year, Cooke said.  “But it took this long to realize it was more serious than first thought.”  Cooke was appointed part-time last October to fill in for the Chief Administrative Officer who had left in the fall. He, too, will be leaving the administrative problems of Bridgetown behind as of the end of business on Tuesday.“I was supposed to leave last week…but there were a couple of things I had to finish up. It has been a hectic day.” (more)

No comments: