Martin Martinson/paNOW Staff

By Glenn Hicks

official inquiry

Village of Pinehouse now under official inquiry and financial audit

Mar 28, 2019 | 7:10 PM

A long-time resident of the northern Village of Pinehouse, who is part of a group of citizens behind a legacy of thwarted efforts to glean information from the municipality, is delighted with news of an expanded probe.

The province’s ministry of government relations confirmed Thursday an expanded probe would take place into the village’s finances and operations, and a supervisor had also been appointed to work with the local council.

The deeper investigation, which is now an “official inquiry” and would see a financial audit of the community, follows years of obstruction and non-compliance regarding requests for information. There have also been questions asked about the high salary of the mayor. However, the village’s administrator has maintained she has limited office capacity to deal with the many requests for information that come her way.

It’s the people’s right to know; there are too many secrets _{– Fred Pederson}

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“People need to know what the truth is,” Fred Pederson told paNOW. “This has divided our town in so many ways; people are going against one another. People want and need to believe that their leadership is doing the right thing, but are doubtful.”

Pederson, who is among a group who filed several Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests over the years, said the wages being paid to the mayor of Pinehouse were “ridiculous” and the travel expenses “out of this world. This is taxpayer’s money …we pay for all of this stuff.” A major aspect of the FOI requests is the annual remuneration of over $100,000 for Pinehouse mayor Mike Natomagan, especially in light of the municipality’s population of around 1,000 people.

Pederson called Thursday’s announcement of the expanded inspection “awesome news.”

“We have been pushed aside. It’s the people’s right to know this. There are too many secrets and now we’ll get some of those skeletons out of the closet and see what they look like.”

Minister says residents want answers

While Pederson and others have their doubts, there is no indication at this stage of any laws having been broken by the village leadership. Government relations minister Warren Kaeding said he would await the outcome of the expanded inspection.

“I am not going to pre-judge that,” he said. “I’m going to wait for the final report and have an opportunity to review with the justice folks and determine what steps might be from there.’

All aspects of the operations of the community are under review_{– Warren Kaeding}

Kaeding did confirm that the seemingly high salary and expenses claimed by the mayor would be part of the more detailed probe by independent inspector Neil Robertson, who recently concluded an initial report.

“That’s certainly something that their taxpayers and members are concerned about so yes, all aspects of the operations of the community are under review,” he said.

Kaeding also announced a supervisor would be put in place to work with the village. Hasan Akhtar, a public servant of five years and an expert on northern municipal matters will provide assistance, support and guidance to the local council, he explained.

In recent months paNOW has made repeated requests for comment from mayor Natomagan, but without success. On Thursday neither he, nor the village’s CAO Martine Smith returned calls regarding news of the expanded inquiry.

–

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow