UPDATE: Courchesne Accepts Position at Municipal LTC Home
UPDATE: Courchesne Accepts Position at Municipal LTC Home
Au Chateau board member cites new employment as legal reason for resigning.
Yesterday it was reported that Councillor Jérôme Courchesne had resigned his seat as city councillor representing Lavigne. Courchesne notified most of council and municipal staff on Tuesday evening via email
I had reached out to Courchesne for a comment or cited reason for the resignation but had not received a response.
Shortly after publishing the news, Courchesne posted in several community Facebook groups his official resignation letter to Mayor Kathleen Thorne-Rochon dated April 5th. It’s not clear why this letter was not shared publicly sooner or why most councillors were not informed until several days later.
In his letter, Courchesne shares that he recently lost his job but has been able to find new employment at the municipally owned long-term care home, Au Château.
Courchesne claims that he was advised by the municipal clerk that accepting a position at an organization in part owned by the municipality disqualified him from holding his councillor seat.
According to LinkedIn, Courchesne’s employment background is in finances and banking. According to Employment Options Sturgeon Falls, there are currently at least 60 job openings in West Nipissing including several non-city-affiliated financial and administrative positions. In his resignation letter Courchesne did not share what position or role he will be filling at Au Château or if attempts were made to seek employment elsewhere.
Legal Grey Area
Although the rules are clear that councillors cannot be directly employed by the municipality. It is not clear if the restriction applies to organization that are only managed from an arms-length. Au Château issues rarely come up at council and it would theoretically be possible for Courchesne to abstain on strictly LTC business when debating municipal matters.* Courchesne could have maintained his council seat while being replaced on the Au Château board by another councillor.
*When an issue regarding staffing and patient neglect was brought up last year, council dismissed all concerns and said it should not be addressed by council since there is a seperate board for Au Chateau.
In North Bay, James Lowery is both a city councillor and the CFO of East Nipissing District Home For The Aged (o/a Cassellholme). Similarly to West Nipissing Cassellholme is in part owned or funded by the municipality of North Bay.
Board Member to Staff
Before resigning as councillor, Courchesne held a position as a board member for Au Château. He was appointed in this role last year to replace Councillor Anne Tessier after management requested she be removed due to disagreements on policies. Since being on this board, Courchesne has supported all of the administration’s decisions. He has voted twice to help the director maintain his controversial COVID rules for staff.
The fact that this board member was then offered what is likely an administrative role raises ethical and conflict of interest issues as well.
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The departure of Mr. Courchesne from the Au Chateau Board will not prove a significant loss as he rarely said anything and if he did it was to act as a WN municipal council hivemind and agree with every administrative policy. As he was not particularly effective as a Board Memeber he may be more effective elsewhere. Lord knows that he could not be less so. The question is who will the mayor appoint to the Au Chateau Board to replace Mr. Courchesne? We know it won't be Ann Tessier. Poor Ann, she made an innocent nebulous remark on Fb about wishing she had a magic wand. There was such fury and consternation around Ann's magic wand remark! Maybe some people view magic wands as a religious symbols? Maybe that is why key people forgot their manners completely and dived right into the most outrageous idiocy! The remark could not and would not be laughed off, forgiven, or over looked. Most adults would have laughted it off. But , not if a magic wand is a religious symbol and you are determined that everyone should know that no-one, literally know one can ridicule your wand. We all get that now. We trust that the next Councillor appointed to Au Chateau will remember the cardinal rules: Agree with adinistration 100% of the time, and not to ever, ever, mention the Administrator or magic wand in the same sentence. Das ist Verbotten!