Fort Simpson (Apr 22/05) - A potential firestorm over some burning village council issues was temporarily averted Monday night.

A council meeting loaded with contentious topics was cancelled due to lack of quorum.

Raymond Michaud: Wants Dennis Nelner removed as deputy mayor.

Among the discord was a letter from Mayor Raymond Michaud calling on council to remove Dennis Nelner as deputy mayor. Michaud was not going to be present at Monday's meeting as he was in Inuvik for the Circle of Northern Leaders conference.

In the letter to council, Michaud accused Nelner of numerous breaches of council's code of ethics.

"Mr. Nelner's actions are not proper conduct for a deputy mayor and council must take the responsibility to ensure this does not continue," Michaud wrote.

Part of the controversy stems from Nelner's remarks at the end of the April 4 council meeting. He said the village "bends over backwards" for some of its contractors but won't do the same for an aboriginal business. He was referring to the mayor and senior administrative officer's decision not to charge Enbridge tipping fees for storing contaminated soil at the landfill.

Xah Ndah Resources, the village's landfill contractor, subsequently lost a rightful source of revenue, Nelner argued.

Michaud said he was offended by Nelner's comment.

In an interview with the Drum on Tuesday, Nelner said there seems to be a "misguided perception" that he's a racist. "Which is really just a smoke screen to the real issue," he said. "If I have solidarity for other aboriginal contractors or other aboriginal business people, independents, then that's my right to defend them. I'm not backing down because it may be the politically correct thing to do. No way, absolutely not."

Xah Ndah Resources vice-president and manager Eric Menicoche has since requested in writing that the village negotiate $60,000 in tipping fees from Enbridge Pipelines (NW) Ltd. for storing contaminated soil at the landfill. Menicoche further stated that his company reserves the right to bill Enbridge for the fees should the village fail to ensure that Xah Ndah Resources is properly compensated.

Nelner, who is also a Liidlii Kue First Nations (LKFN) councillor, added that he's prepared to put forth a motion for an independent review of municipal operations. He wants budgeting, procurement procedures, conflict of interest, operations and maintenance and management decisions to be scrutinized.

Keyna Norwegian, chief of the LKFN, showed up for Monday's cancelled village council meeting. She said she came to gather more information and "get other people's version of what's really going on" before drawing any conclusions. Northern News Services