Pembroke Mayor Ron Gervais has been cleared of any wrong doing after two topics some thought were to be conflict of interest. One was involving the Mayor offering to purchase a portion of vacant land on Willard Street for $1,000. Some residents had taken to social media to voice their disbelief. One person wrote on a Facebook post that it “screams of conflict of interest,” and another wrote that taxpayers “should be sick to their stomach.”An Integrity Commissioner report states that Gervais acted appropriately by declaring a conflict when needed. The commissioner went on to say that the Mayor did nothing unethical. Finance committee chair Brian Abdallah ended the discussion that staff will appraise that particular piece of land to put up for public sale, and said staff are looking at a new policy regarding the sale of surplus land. The other topic involves Gervais’s employment at Sheppard & Gervais, the same law firm under city solicitor Robert Sheppard, to represent the city on legal matters. City CAO David Unrau clarified that he city does not have to go through a competitive bidding process to hire lawyers. Unrau also reiterated that Gervais is not a partner but an employee of Sheppard’s, and that Robert Sheppard the person, not the firm was appointed as solicitor in 2002. That report sparked comments from city Councilor Ian Kuehl “I think we’re really splitting hairs there. When I was at Sheppard & Gervais between 2010 and 2016, I did a lot of work for the city … Trying to dissect that, I don’t know is fair to reality.” Kuehl also made concerns about how the contract with Sheppard hadn’t been reviewed in more than two decades.
(Written by: Kyle Robinson)