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Vol. 11, No. 12, Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Former Lamont CAO testifies during his criminal trial in Court of Queen’s Bench Michelle Pinon Editor
Former Town of Lamont Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Tom Miller was on the witness stand to testify in his defense during his criminal trial in Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton on Jan. 14 and 15th. Miller, formally charged on May 28, 2013 with several charges of forgery and fraud after an RCMP criminal investigation was completed. The charges stem directly from an incident that was reported by Quebec based developer Gilles Filatreault, who alleged Miller attempted to negotiate kickbacks on a housing deal. Filatreault, who was in the courtroom during Miller’s testimony, had a meeting with Tom Miller, his counterpart Ben Trudeau, investor James Voll, and himself in November of 2012 at the Boston Pizza restaurant in Fort Saskatchewan. Miller, who now hails from Ontario, said he was hired by the Town of Lamont as its CAO in 2004, and was introduced to Filatreault and his partner in the spring of 2006, and worked on a development agreement for a housing development that would sit on a 200 acre parcel of land that was zoned agricultural, and would have to be rezoned for residential single family homes. Even though the development agreement was approved by council with timelines that stipulated how many lots, and in which subdivision would be developed, only one home and one foundation was completed. While work started in the fall of 2007, Jabneel came to the town looking for an extension on those timelines in January or February of 2008. Filatreault received the extension, and another one after that, but was denied a third extension. Some time later Miller put a stop work order on the development. Besides delays in construction, there were some differences regarding a joint marketing program, storm water pond, etc. Miller stated, “I told council I couldn’t work with him.” When asked if he had asked for a kick back from Filatreault, Miller stated no. He also stated that he cashed in Filatreault’s letter of credit at the CIBC and deposited the money into the town’s bank account. “Not in your bank account?” asked his lawyer. “No,” replied Miller. Eventually, all of the agreements were cancelled on
the recommendations of the town’s lawyers, added Miller. Miller went on to say that after the town cancelled the agreements, Jabneel decided to sue him and the Town of Lamont for $29 million. After the municipal election in 2010 Miller said three new councillors were elected. “The new councillors were very argumentative and I felt they were elected to get me fired.” While some councillors “stuck up” for Miller, others didn’t, and there were strong disagreements and yelling matches during council meetings. Miller
LAMONT LEADER FILE PHOTO
Former Town of Lamont CAO Tom Miller, right, during the swearing in ceremony of former Mayor Denis Durand. said Mayor Denis Durand finally got fed up and quit. “Then Bill Skinner became mayor, and then things started going sideways for me.” Miller said some of his authority was taken away from him, and was told not to come to work. “I knew I was going to get fired.” In December of 2011, a termination agreement was signed by Tom Miller and the Town of Lamont. Because Miller’s contract with the town hadn’t yet expired, the town had to pay the remainder of his salary, a total of $340,000. Miller testified that he wanted to keep the lines of communication open, and asked former Mayor
Durand that if he heard from Filatreault to have him call him. “I wanted to find out what was going on...find tidbits about the lawsuit, and I wanted to get a different perspective. While Miller denied scheming or hatching a plan with Ben Trudeau and Gilles Filatreault, which included a forged letter signed by Steve Sharun, power of attorney and another letter of obligation. Miller said he was to take ownership of the documents in exchange of 50 per cent of the proceeds from the lawsuit between Jabneel and the Town of Lamont. “If I wanted to get paid that’s what I’d have to do.” Although Miller admitted to preparing the plan so Jabneel could get the maximum payout from the town, he denied initiating or creating the documents that were part of the plan. Miller said he destroyed the town letter before that meeting in Fort Saskatchewan. “I didn’t want it to become public. It would hurt Steve immensely.” Miller was asked whether he knew there was another letter? “I didn’t,” he replied. Miller faced cross-examination by the Crown on Jan. 15th. During that meeting at Boston Pizza, he was asked if he stated, “Gilles, you have no witnesses when I asked you for the commission and neither does the RCMP.” Miller was also asked about why he wanted to contact Filatreault, and his motivation for phoning him, and later meeting with him. He also denied that he was angry about his termination with the town; yet he felt it was “unwarranted.” On several occasions Miller said he could not recall his motivation. “Is it your evidence your firing and newfound desire to open lines of communication are not connected? “On one level I wanted to open lines of communication and report back to my lawyer,” responded Miller. He was asked several times why he went to Gilles lawyer instead of his own for information as well as draft the letter. “I was required to write the letter in order to get paid.” When questioned repeatedly, and a variety of ways, Miller did contradict earlier testimony. One example, would be a statement he made to police stating, “I did not concoct this plan...I wanted them to believe the plan would work.” As to where Miller’s testimony, other testimony by town councillors, former deputy CAO and mayor, as well as Filatreault, and an investor will bear overall will be determined in about four months time.