Coun. Maurice Hynes said it was very difficult for him to bring forward a motion to have an order placed on Mayor Tom Rose and his wife, Joanne, to cease and desist using their home at 45 Hillier Ave. for residential purposes.
Council approved the order at their regular general meeting on Thursday and Hynes expects it will be issued on Monday, with the Roses having 14 days from the issuance of the order to comply.
However, he noted they have a right to appeal.
Joanne Rose, who was sitting in the back of council chambers when the vote was made, said she and Tom would go home to gather more information and see what to do from there.
Mayor Rose wasn’t in the room while council discussed the motion, as he had declared himself in a conflict of interest.
Prior to the vote, which was four to one in favour of the order, Coun. Laura Aylward, who cast the only dissenting vote, questioned whether the town’s lawyer was making the recommendation based on what is in the Municipalities Act.
The motion was likely precipitated by a letter that Stephenville businessman Shawn Boyd had sent to the Stephenville town council members asking them to investigate development activities by Mayor Tom Rose.
Hynes said council must follow the guidelines set out for them and while it wasn’t easy, they still had to bring the motion forward.
He said the order was being made in accordance with Section 404 of the Municipalities Act, 1999, Chapter 24, relating to issuing an order, and Section 8 of the Stephenville Development Regulations, which states “no person shall carry out any development within the planning area except where otherwise provided in these regulations unless a permit for the development has been issued by the town,” and Section 102 of the Urban and Rural Planning Act 2000, dealing with enforcement of an order.
Aylward said she couldn’t vote in favour of the motion because she didn’t think she had enough information on it.
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