NNSL (Jun 01/98) - A community divided. That's what the GNWT's minister of municipal and community affairs, Manitok Thompson, said she found upon attending a public meeting in the tiny community of Enterprise Wednesday night.

It was her first visit to Enterprise since her ministry replaced the settlement's elected council with a temporary administrator in April.

"What I saw there was a community divided," she said Thursday afternoon. "You could tell this was not a community that was in unity."

The response from residents, she said, was less than appreciative.

"It (a presentation by various Enterprise residents opposed to the takeover) was really well done. But then their feelings and attitudes got in the way."

"It," she said, pausing, "did get emotional near the end."

The takeover decision -- made after MACA inspectors found two dozen violations of NWT acts and regulations in the running of settlement affairs -- was one of the most difficult of her career.

Thompson said she stands by it.

"It was not a five-minute or overnight decision," she said. "I went back, five, 10 years and had many briefings."

Thompson's view of the meeting was not shared by former Enterprise councillor Winnie Cadieux. She said that her community asked pointed questions of the GNWT delegation -- which included Premier Don Morin -- but received few answers.

"They had a lack of compassion," she said. "Nowhere were they going to bend or deal with our community's concerns.... When we asked why they just said: 'the 25 violations.'"

As for Thompson, she tried to hold out an olive branch to her opponents in Enterprise. While her ministry hopes the community is prepared for an election by December, she said one could come faster.

"We're going to do some training -- open to the public -- (and) there will be an election after that," she said. "We're thinking of December but it could come earlier than that."

Thompson also denied allegations that she and her department refused to communicate with Enterprise in the weeks after the takeover. She said that both she as minister and her departmental staff replied to correspondence they received on the matter. News/North tried but was unable to obtain copies of the correspondence.

She also said that she has received verbal support from what she calls the "silent majority" of Enterprise residents who support her decision.