The City of Chestermere is suing its former mayor Jeff Colvin and three ex-councillors, claiming they improperly spent over $650,000 of public funds without authorization. The lawsuit, filed in Calgary’s Court of King’s Bench, alleges that these funds were used for personal legal fees, surveillance equipment, alcohol, and travel expenses for a councillor’s wife, among other unauthorized expenditures.
The city’s claims are based on a financial probe conducted by Deloitte following the officials’ dismissal by Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver last year. This probe found that Colvin and his associates spent more than $430,000 on unauthorized legal fees, including failed injunction applications and unauthorized investigations.
Additionally, the lawsuit accuses the former officials of spending $15,000 on a sweep for electronic listening devices in the city’s offices, nearly $6,500 on alcohol, and $158,000 on cleaning up a privately-owned waterslide park. Colvin is also alleged to have spent $46,000 on a summer carnival without council approval, among other personal expenditures like moving his piano to city hall and buying a painting at an RCMP fundraising event.
The lawsuit aims to recover these funds, though the claims have not yet been tested in court. The timing of the lawsuit, just a week before a byelection, has raised questions about its impact on the election process, with Colvin and the other ex-officials running to reclaim their positions.
Source
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/chestermere-sues-fired-mayor-councillors-650k