Cornwallis reeve appeals suspension

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This article was published 08/01/2025 (253 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Reeve Sam Hofer appealed his 270-day suspension handed by the councillors of the Rural Municipality (RM) of Cornwallis late last year.

At a special meeting held on Tuesday night, Hofer returned to his seat at head of council to appeal the suspension that was handed by the council in November of last year. For now, Hofer will continue with his duties as reeve, until the appeals process is completed.

He had been suspended earlier following a year-long investigation that concluded he violated the council’s code of conduct. At the time, Councillors had declined to share details about the violations, but described them generally as “bad behaviour,” saying this had resulted in high staff turnover at the municipality.

The final decision regarding Hofer’s appeal is expected in one to three months.

A provincially appointed appeals director is now adjudicating the feud that has broken out in the RM of Cornwallis’ chambers. The director, not known at this time, will decide whether to overturn the 270-day suspension or to uphold it.

Hofer was unable to speak to the Sun, citing a policy where council cannot speak to the media without the approval of the CAO. The Sun also requested permission to interview Hofer, but did not get approval on Tuesday.

In November, Deputy Reeve Terry Ross said Hofer’s conduct was “creating an atmosphere that was not what we thought would be conducive to a healthy working environment.” He had earlier commented that the high turnover at the municipality could be tied to the behaviour, citing a turnover of seven CAOs in two years.

A provincially approved investigator determined that three complaints out of four filed against Hofer by his council were substantive. This was done through interviews, witness statements and documents, councillors told the Sun, and budgeted at $100,000.

Three citizens that came to the meeting on Tuesday told the Sun they were in support of Hofer being reinstated. Lynn Forbes, a resident of Cornwallis, said she felt it was hypocritical that the reeve has been suspended due to code of conduct concerns, while others have not been.

She also cited a slip-up in October, where Coun. Shane Drohan was caught on camera while leaving the chambers of a council meeting, saying “you didn’t let Darwin shoot anyone.” The comment referred to Chief Const. Darwin Drader, a police officer in Cornwallis.

Forbes told the Sun on Tuesday it’s hypocritical of the council to not punish the councillor for these comments, even as it voted in favour of suspending Hofer for 270 days, based on the code of conduct terms relating to professionalism and respect.

“If you’re going to bend the rules for someone, you need to do that for everyone,” said Forbes outside council’s chambers on Tuesday night.

When asked on Tuesday about the comment, interim CAO Holly Krysko and Drohan said bylaws at the RM allow a councillor to right their wrong informally.

“In that particular case, there was an apology made from a councillor,” said Krysko. She added the apology is an option for councillors to informally resolve such situations and end the issue before it leads to investigations.

Drohan said that while the comment was directed at no one, and was a joke, he still felt it right to apologize.

In November, the resolutions council brought against Hofer included a request that he issue apologies to taxpayers of Cornwallis, and a former CAO.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com