Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Sep 13/02) - Still feeling slighted the day after he stormed out of a council meeting, Fort Simpson councillor Pat Rowe said he plans to resign from village council.

Rowe had excused himself during the Sept. 3 council meeting when senior administrative officer Bernice Swanson said she would advise council of a garbage truck Rowe could access for rental.

After Rowe left, the discussion eventually turned to whether council should purchase a used 1990 garbage truck from Toronto. Council then voted in favour of buying that truck. Rowe was never invited back into the room for the debate or the show of hands. He opened the door just as the vote was being taken and said he didn't feel he was in conflict on that matter. He gathered his papers and slammed the door behind him as he left the meeting.

"I wanted to make a point that I was not in conflict on that issue at all ... (you're) guaranteed I was entitled to vote," Rowe said in a subsequent interview. "I was ousted from that meeting. They wanted to push something through ... that was the ultimate slap in the face."

Swanson said it was council's opinion that Rowe was still in conflict, that's why he was not asked to return sooner.

Rowe noted that Swanson closed the council chambers door behind him, an unusual action when a councillor steps out of the room.

Swanson replied, "I didn't think anything of it, actually ... I didn't have any purpose behind it."

Rowe, who said he couldn't care less about losing out on the garbage truck rental, contended that the village is insistent on spending its funds outside of the community, such as buying the used garbage truck from Toronto and a street sweeper from Edmonton. A local company -- Rowe's Construction -- has a sweeper available for rental, he noted.

"They don't look at options," he said of council.

Swanson argued that she does examine options within the community and the North to present to council.

"I'm a real pusher for local community support," she said, adding that the street sweeper from Rowe's Construction had been contracted but "it wasn't doing the job that we wanted."

Rowe said he will attend the next council meeting on Monday only to announce his resignation.

"My apologies to the people of Fort Simpson and the people who voted for me, but with a council with this type of backbone, nobody can work with them," he said.

"I think the people of Fort Simpson are sorrily represented by this council."