It’s been a bizarre introduction to municipal politics for former Beaumont councillor Sabrina Powers.
In less than four months, Powers won a council seat, resigned, then failed to regain her seat in a byelection vote Feb. 5.
In Nov. 2017, Powers was asked by her fellow councillors to resign when an unpaid utility bill and an unpaid property tax bill were uncovered.
Powers called it an honest mistake and said her husband simply forgot to pay the bills.
According to the Local Authorities Election Act, all money owed to a municipality must be paid by nomination day, which for Powers was Sept. 18.
She did not say how much the bills were for, but said she paid them when she realized they were outstanding.
At the time, Powers was told she had three options to address the issue. She could resign, bring the issue to council where they could dismiss it, or it could be brought before a Court of Queen’s Bench judge.
Powers said she felt “blindsided” when council asked her to resign.
“I thought if all of your colleagues ask you to resign, what would you do?” Powers told CBC in November.
“They obviously have their reasons and I wasn’t privy to those reasons, but it wasn’t necessarily an option that was presented or that should have been presented.”
Byelection loss
Powers’s resignation triggered the Feb. 5. byelection.
Steven VanNieuwkerk won the Feb. 5, 2018 by-election to fill the last town of Beaumont council seat. (Steven vanNieuwkerk/Facebook)
In total, eight candidates ran for the seat.
Unofficial results on the town’s website show Powers came in fourth with 155 votes.
Steven vanNieuwkerk ultimately won the byelection with 410 votes, after losing to Powers in the general election by 400 votes.
“Losing was a tough thing … I was still kind of in campaign mode because it’s not something very easy to turn off,” said vanNieuwkerk.
“By a byelection being triggered, it affected all of the candidates who put their names back in the race. I’m just happy we’re at the outcome that we are.”
VanNieuwkerk said he expects to be sworn in within a week.
With Powers out of the seat, Kathy Barnhart is now the only woman on Beaumont town council.