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Council refuses to write off alleged Garden River debt

Sault Ste. Marie City Councillors refused by a 7-6 vote Monday night to write off a $96,000 debt allegedly owed by Garden River First Nation.
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Sault Ste. Marie City Councillors refused by a 7-6 vote Monday night to write off a $96,000 debt allegedly owed by Garden River First Nation.

Council nonetheless voted to continue trying to negotiate snowmobile access across Garden River lands, prompting Mayor John Rowswell to ask to be excused from those negotiations because "there's no point."

The City was responding to a terse letter from Chief Lyle Sayers of Garden River (Ketegaun Seebee) First Nation, indicating that he was unwilling to discuss allowing snowmobile trails to cross Garden River lands.

'We will not conduct business in this manner'

The Chief expressed concern that Council seemed to be tying snowmobile access to a mutual aid firefighting agreement under which Garden River would receive assistance from Sault Ste. Marie and other fire departments during times of excessive demand.

Former Mayor Joe Fratesi, now the City's chief administrative officer, told Council earlier this month that any such agreement would involve forgiving a $96,000 debt that he says has been owed to the City for almost a decade by Garden River under a previous firefighting arrangement he says was unilaterally ended by the band when it established its own fire department.

"To be frank we do not and will not conduct business or discuss any issue in this manner," Chief Sayers said.

Vaudry proposed writing off debt

The issue first arose at Monday's Council meeting when Councillor Peter Vaudry proposed eliminating any contested debt and starting afresh in the snowmobile negotiations.

"It's not a bargaining chip," Vaudry said. "It is an irritant. Let's get everything off the table. We've got to get rid of that irritant to move forward."

Vaudry proposed that the City appoint the Mayor, Ward 4 Councillor Neil DelBianco and Ward 5 Councillor Duane Jones to a committee to proceed with those negotiations.

Not fair to other communities

But some councillors were concerned about writing off the contested debt.

"I'm not sure that passing this resolution buys us anything," said Ward 2 Councillor Brady Irwin. "There may not be any inherent value in forgiving the debt."

Ward 3 Councillor Derik Brandt said forgiving Garden River's obligation wouldn't be fair to other communities who paid Sault Ste. Marie for fire protection.

"I don't think it's looking after taxpayers' dollars to write this off," Brandt said.

After a decade, debt can no longer be pursued

Chief Administrative Officer Fratesi said that the Statute of Limitations probably prevents the city from pursuing the decade-old debt.

Councillor Irwin proposed that the debt write-off be voted on separately, and councillors then voted narrowly against forgiving the alleged obligation. The vote was 7-6. Then, Council voted to form the committee to continue pursuing a snowmobile right-of-way across Garden River lands.

That vote went 12-1, with only Mayor Rowsell opposed.

'There's no point in negotiating with them'

Rowswell then asked to be removed from the negotiating committee.

"You might as well take my name off," the Mayor said. "There's no point in negotiating with them."

"I'm of the opinion that we had to put it behind us and move on .... I just don't see us doing anything."

Council voted to appoint Councillor Derick Brandt to the Garden River negotiating team in place of Mayor Rowswell.

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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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