The mayor and chief administrative officer of the Rural Community of Beausoleil have both announced their resignations within the past week. The resignations come after a summer of conflict in the municipality, which encompasses the communities of Cocagne, Notre-Dame, Shediac Bridge and Grande-Digue.
In a news release posted on the municipality’s website on Sept. 11, Jean Hebert, mayor of the municipality, announced his resignation. He said his decision followed conflicts over the summer and his inability to resolve them.
“As people know, it’s not my style to work in a divisive confrontational environment. I don’t want to continue working that way,” he wrote in the statement. “To those whom I have offended over the past 2 months, I apologize. It was not my intention to offend anyone.”
“They thought it passed pretty fast,” he said. “They wanted to get more involved into it.”
Hebert said the business owners did not have to change the name of their business, but had to use French first for other elements of the sign like hours of opening, or to describe products or services.
He added that the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick would cover 60 per cent of the cost of changing signage and that the bylaw would be phased in over the next few years.
Another source of conflict was the dismissal of the municipality’s fire chief, Danny Desroches, said Hebert. The dismissal prompted the resignation of other firefighters, including assistant fire chief Bernard Richard.
The municipality said in a statement on July 30 that it was not able to discuss the reasons for Desroches’s dismissal.
“The decision to dismiss Mr. Desroches was not taken lightly. It is the result of a well-considered assessment, in consultation with legal counsel. We can confirm that such decisions are taken very seriously and in accordance with the required legal procedures,” the municipality said in the statement.
Hebert said he was not made aware of what transpired, and that elected officials were not allowed to discuss human-resource issues.
“To this day I still don’t know the issue that went on there,” he said.
The former mayor said in the interview he was unable to manage the two conflicts. Prior to the creation of the Rural Community of Beausoleil during the local governance reforms, Hebert had been mayor of Cocagne, and he said he had never dealt with such confrontation.
“I’ve been mayor close to nine years now and I’ve never seen this,” he said. “I thought, well, maybe if I resign it will change something.”
When asked, Hebert said his future plans include spending more time with family. He noted he would like to be able to drive around Beausoleil in the next few years and see bilingual signage on businesses around the municipality.
‘Community crisis’ leads to CAO’s resignation
On Monday, Mathieu Caissie, chief administrative officer, treasurer and clerk of Beausoleil, confirmed his resignation in a statement to Brunswick News, but declined a request for an interview.
Caissie said in the statement that he made the decision after having a “deep and necessary personal reflection” in the context of what he calls a “community and municipal crisis.”
“My first duty as principal civil servant of this new and beautiful rural community was to ensure that the conditions were met and successful to lay good foundations for its administrative and legislative functioning, the development of its basic municipal services offered and above all to work to create the best possible confidence and support from residents of the four wards of Beausoleil towards the implementation of this newly created municipality following the reform of local governance,” Caissie said in the statement.
The former CAO said the confidence of residents in the municipality has weakened, and that he resigned from his position to help recreate unity in the community for the common public interest.
“This negativity online in my community that I love has darkened all the good work accomplished by the transition committee in 2022 and new council elected since Jan. 1, 2023.”
He said in the statement that throughout the public consultations late last year and the adoption of the municipality’s strategic plan he is confident residents will adhere to the objectives for the protection of the environment, sustainable development, the development of recreational and cultural services, and the improvement of the municipal infrastructure in fire safety and emergency measures.
Beausoleil’s Future
The Rural Community of Beausoleil is expected to declare the mayor’s seat vacant on Thursday night. The municipality is holding a special meeting of council about a week after the mayor and chief administrative officer resigned from their positions. The council is also expected to appoint an assistant clerk and a spokesperson. The next local government by-election is scheduled for Dec. 9.
While the municipality faces an uncertain future, there is hope that the community will come together to rebuild trust and unity. In the meantime, the municipality is continuing to function normally and is working to put all the necessary measures in place for the transition.
