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Vol. 18, No. 49, Wednesday, November 1, 2023 www.LamontLeader.com
Lamont county lawyering up “I can read between the lines” - Councillor Woitas
Lamont County Councilor Neil Woitas checks the time before a special county council meeting Oct. 18 where he was the subject of a council code of conduct. The meeting was postponed giving the council time to secure legal services in response to Woitas bringing his own lawyer to the meeting. Photo: Jana Semeniuk
JANA SEMENIUK A Lamont County council meeting held on Oct. 24 ended with deputy reeve Daniel Warawa making a motion, after a session closed to the public, for Lamont County to secure legal counsel. “(I make a motion) that Lamont County Council direct the CAO to secure legal Counsel for the matter discussed in closed session,” said Warawa, which garnered three votes from the five councillors. Councillor Aaron Wick said he was opposed to the motion while reeve Dave Diduck indicated he didn’t expect councillor Neil Woitas to vote. “You weren’t here, so...” he said to Woitas, who told Diduck he had already guessed why legal counsel was being sought. “I can read between the lines,” he said. In a later interview, Woitas said he was removed from the closed session and not allowed to know the matter being discussed. “They asked me to step out of council chamber, so I knew they're talking about me,” he said. “Then when I came back into the council chamber, we dealt through one more issue that I had added to the agenda. Then after we came out of camera, they started making the motions and the last motion was to seek legal help for the matter discussed in camera. I read between the lines.” Earlier this month, Woitas disrupted council’s plans for a code of conduct meeting against him when he brought a lawyer, Terri-Lynn McLaughlin from Fort Saskatchewan, to the meeting. As a result, the meeting was adjourned after 15 minutes to allow the council time to seek their own legal representation on the issue against Woitas. To date, plans for another meeting
have not yet been announced. Although Woitas said he still has not been told what the issue against him is, he said he feels it’s because he speaks out about problems in the county. “There's a lot of issues and they're not doing nothing about it,” he said. One issue recently discussed in the public portion of the Sept. 26 council meeting was overpayment for county contracted gravel haulers. Darby Dietz, director of public works, presented his findings after a thorough councilrequested review of all 1,230 haul cards revealing a substantial overpayment of over $14,000. “Since this report was written, the final payments have been issued,” said Dietz. “I believe all of the cheques have been picked up and with the cheques we've also included a thorough summary of each hauler’s tickets.” Woitas told Dietz that despite their efforts, the payments were still wrong. “One guy gave it a quick review and they’re still wrong. Out of 95 loads, 38 loads are still wrong,” he said. Meanwhile, another issue Woitas said he has, is the county using public money to hire a lawyer while he pays for his own lawyer. “I'm being open and transparent with all the ratepayers and it’s causing troubles. They're trying to keep me quiet,” he said. “I'm spending my own money on legal, knowing that I'm right and they’re spending ratepayer’s money (because) a counselor is giving information on what's happening. It is not right,” said Woitas. “(If) they have a problem they should be (paying for) with their own lawyer with their own funds. Not county lawyers.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 14