Teulon divided as council proposes stripping mayor of powers

The majority of Teulon'stown council wants to see their mayor's role reduced to not muchmore than a title.

On Tuesday evening, three of the town's four councillorsintroduced motions to stripMayor DebbieKozyra of powers like signing authority, chairing meetings, membership oncommitteesand acting as the town's spokesperson.

Deputy mayor Mike Ledarney told CBCRadio NoonhostMarjorie Dowhoson Wednesday that council "had no choice" but to make the drastic move.

"We have tried to deal with this internally over the last eight months and unfortunately, it became clear to usover the last month that this kind of action needed to be taken," said Ledarney, without providing exact details about Kozyra's behaviour.

"It's just emotionally draining for the rest of council," said Ledarney, who has held his seatfor 16 years.

"We dread coming to meetings now, when it never used to be like that."

On top of proposing changes to the town's bylaws that strip the mayor of her duties and passmanyto the deputy mayor Teulon'scouncil also put forward two resolutions.

One resolutioncensuresKozyra for "disregarding council decisions" andallegedly demonstrating "confrontational, disrespectful, defamatory and intimidating conduct towardsher colleagues, members of the public and employees."

The other resolution calls forall communication with town staff to happen through the deputy mayor instead of the mayor.

'Due the respect of the councillors': mayor

Theroughly 1,200 residents of Teulon, about 60 kilometresnorth of Winnipeg,elected Kozyra asmayor in October. SheunseatedBert Campbell, who had held the positionsince 2002.

In a statement to CBC News, Kozyra said the actions of Ledarney and the other councillors"are detrimental to the well-being of this Town of Teulon and the citizens."

Kozyra went on to claim that council's proposalviolates the Municipal Act, and requested Ledarney's resignation.

"I am the mayor of Teulon, and I will continue with my duties as mayor.I am due the respect of the councillors and office staff," she wrote.

In the eyes of the province, however, the council is within its legal rights to take the mayor's powers away.

"Currently, with the information that we have, the department has not determined any violations under The Municipal Act,"a spokesperson for the province's Municipal Relations departmentsaid in a statement emailed toCBC News Thursday.

"The Department of Municipal Relations continues to monitor the situation and provide advice to the municipality with respect to their responsibilities/requirements under The Municipal Act."

The proposed changes to the town's bylaws that would strip Kozyra of her powersstill have to pass second and third reading, and the council's next meeting isn't until August.

Ledarney said council has tried to use privatesessions to hammer out issues with the mayor, but very little was resolved.

The issue has caused division in the town, he said, with some peopleat the meeting Tuesdayshowing support for Kozyra.

"There are some harsh comments on both sides of this," Ledarney said.

"We know that there's many issues that we have not been able to address in town over the last eight months, and the sooner we can get to deal with those issues, the best it is for the community."

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