‘An embarrassment:’ City councillor weighs in on legal action

Regina city council is far from united right now in the wake of legal action filed in response to the proposed budget.

Coun. Andrew Stevens — with the assistance of Coun. Dan LeBlanc, who’s a lawyer — is taking city manager Niki Anderson to court over a lack of funding towards ending homelessness.

The court application argues the proposed budget doesn’t include direct funding towards ending homelessness and claims council approved that funding back in June.

Mayor Sandra Masters has refuted that claim, saying administration did what it was asked to do in June and provided the numbers in the proposed budget that were requested.

Speaking on Gormley on Friday, Coun. Terina Nelson said the legal matter was “an embarrassment.”

“This is not what we were elected to do,” Nelson said. “It’s a waste of my taxpaying dollars. I feel that it just makes us as council — because we always get grouped (together) as ‘the councillors,’ it’s not just one or two — it makes us look very unworthy of running a city.”

Nelson said in most cases when councillors have a disagreement about an issue, they still manage to pull together in the best interests of the city. In Nelson’s mind, the lawsuit is proof that the current council isn’t following that script.

“That’s a message that I don’t feel that the City of Regina’s citizens — the people that elected us — are feeling,” she said. “That confidence is really lacking in them, thinking that we’re going to move this forward as a city and do what’s best for them.”

Nelson pointed to her own experiences with Stevens in recent months.

He filed a complaint about her in March under The Code of Ethics Bylaw for comments she made to Coun. Shanon Zachidniak during a council meeting Jan. 19.

In September, council voted not to sanction Nelson for her actions.

During her conversation with Gormley, Nelson said Stevens and others have “tried to break me” with the way they treated her after some comments she made during meetings.

“If you break the people that are strong down, you’re hoping that they’ll give up,” Nelson said. “That’s my feeling (regarding the situation facing Anderson) and what I’m getting as a feeling.”

After the lawsuit was filed, Masters said she thought there were tones of sexism involved. Nelson seemed to agree Friday, but stopped short of saying it.

“(Anderson) didn’t do anything wrong,” Nelson said. “She has done nothing wrong, so it can’t be on the fact that she’s doing something wrong. What’s the other thing it could be on?”

980 CJME has reached out to Stevens for comment, but he hadn’t responded by the time of publication.

Nelson concluded her conversation with Gormley by apologizing to the people of Regina for the whole situation.

“We’re here to help, we’re here to do the best we can, and we’re trying,” she said. “There are councillors that are trying their best — and it’s just sad.”