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Doug Nyal will stay on village council

Village of Clyde council has ended its Court of Queen’s Bench action to remove Coun. Doug Nyal from office.
Doug Nyal will stay as a Village of Clyde councillor following a 4-0 vote March 12 to end disqualification proceeding against him.
Doug Nyal will stay as a Village of Clyde councillor following a 4-0 vote March 12 to end disqualification proceeding against him.

Village of Clyde council has ended its Court of Queen’s Bench action to remove Coun. Doug Nyal from office.

Following an hour-long, in-camera session at their March 12 meeting, councillors voted 4-0 to end their court application to disqualify Nyal, who had previously missed a pair of meetings.

Also in mayor Nat Dvernichuk’s motion was a call to ensure a future code of conduct bylaw to address issues related to meeting attendance and councillor behaviour.

Nyal excused himself from the vote due to a pecuniary interest over his legal fees in the case.

Following the vote, which was greeted by a standing ovation from the gallery, Dvernichuk walked over to Nyal and shook his hand.

“Is this an apology?” asked Nyal.

“No, but it means you’re back on council,” responded Dvernichuk.

Nyal’s future with council was called into question in February after he missed two consecutive meetings — first in December and then in January.

According to the Municipal Government Act, a councillor is disqualified if “the councillor is absent from all regular council meetings held during any period of eight consecutive weeks, starting with the date that the first meeting is missed.”

While Nyal admitted he missed the January meeting because of his own scheduling error, he had missed the Dec. 12 meeting because he was dealing with the unexpected death of his friend and former Clyde Coun. Stu Lorencz.

When council told Nyal he was disqualified at the Feb. 12 meeting, he refused and council voted 3-2 “to proceed with councillor disqualification through the Court of Queen’s Bench.” Dvernichuk, deputy mayor Christa Clausing and Coun. Allan Van Eaton supported the motion while Nyal and Coun. Matthew White voted against.

“It’s important to keep in mind that there’s a certain respect that has to come with a council chamber,” said White, who’s comment was met with more applause from the gallery.

The affair struck a nerve with many village residents, who packed into the tiny council chamber to voice their opinions.

“I was shocked to read in the paper that Nyal was being censured,” said resident and former councillor Neil Olson, who noted that previous councils had taken great pains to work with councillors who had missed meetings.

Other members of the public were less diplomatic.

“For the three of you that are voting against him, you know damn well that it’s a personal vendetta,” said resident Dennis Hampshire at the start of the meeting.

“We know everybody in Westlock and whenever we see people they ask us what is going on out here. It’s embarrassing.”

Hampshire later apologized after council voted to rescind the motion.

“I appreciate you guys trying to work together,” he said. “I’ve been here since 1972 and it does mean a lot that you guys are trying to resolve things.

“I don’t expect people to get along all the time, that’s just human nature. There’s going to be conflict, so I appreciate that you guys are trying to smooth this over. I commend every one of you for putting your names in to this.”

Dvernichuk said that an upcoming code of conduct bylaw will address any outstanding concerns over what councillors can and can’t do.

“Every chamber everywhere needs a code of conduct that has to be followed,” he said.

Nyal said he was glad the whole affair was over with.

“There was a lot of support for the community there and it seems people see me as more of an asset to the village than a liability.”

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