The new fibreglass Shep with epoxy finish stands almost 8 ft high and weighs nearly 300 lbs. It was restored to its perch in Dorchester’s village square in April 2023 after a three-year absence
The Town of Tantramar has responded to complaints to the New Brunswick Ombud by releasing an investigator’s report into the contentious events surrounding the restoration of Shep, Dorchester’s unique sandpiper statue.
In a letter e-mailed yesterday to Warktimes, Town Clerk Donna Beal indicated that releasing the report into Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell’s municipal Code of Conduct violations came after a review with Melanie Grant, a complaint analyst in the Ombud’s office.
Warktimes filed a complaint with the Ombud on December 11th after the town refused to provide a copy of the report on the grounds that, as an investigation into personnel matters, it could not be released under the Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
The $19,000 report by investigator Philippe Morin of Montana Consulting Group is heavily redacted with most names and other identifying information blacked out to protect the privacy of the two individuals who filed Code of Conduct complaints against Councillor Wiggins-Colwell as well as the identity of witnesses the investigator interviewed.
(Bill Steele, proprietor of the Dorchester Jail Bed & Breakfast has acknowledged that he was one of the complainants while the other may have been a Tantramar councillor.)
Shep’s feet & beak
Morin’s report concludes that Wiggins-Colwell violated the Code of Conduct when she decided to take restoration of the statue into her own hands instead of going through council’s “democratic decision making process.”
It adds that her actions failed to reflect the separate roles and responsibilities of council and town administrators “when she made the decision to take on the replacement of Shep and followed through with it by contacting the artist and being involved in the creation of Shep.”
The report finds Wiggins-Colwell violated a section of the Code that requires councillors to “conduct council business in an open and transparent manner that promotes public confidence and trust, recognizing that an individual councillor cannot exercise individual authority over Tantramar” when she decided to have Shep installed on its pedestal instead of obeying orders from the mayor and CAO to return the statue’s feet and beak to the town.
Sculptor Robin Hanson poses in his workshop near Oromocto where he created Shep
(Sculptor Robin Hanson told Warktimes in December that the old beak was unusable.)
Morin also concluded that, as a councillor, Wiggins-Colwell should not have asked a municipal employee to give her the feet and beak instead of going through the CAO.
The report notes that Wiggins-Colwell told the investigator she did bring the feet back with a bird attached to them.
“There are two issues with the fact that there was now a bird attached to the feet,” Morin writes, adding, “1) Ms. Wiggins-Colwell did not bring it back to the Public Works department of Tantramar, but rather had it installed by her [husband] on municipal property without proper authorization, and, 2) the bird attached to the feet belongs to Fundy Biosphere.”
(The Fundy Biosphere Region is a non-profit organization that paid the full $9,300 cost of the statue.)
Morin found that Wiggins-Colwell violated the Code of Conduct “when she used municipal property for the benefit of Fundy Biosphere” and when she did not follow proper municipal procurement policies including a request for proposals (RFP).
Councillor’s defence
Wiggins-Colwell told Warktimes in December that when she ran for a seat on Tantramar council, she promised voters in Dorchester she would work hard to get Shep restored in time for the 2023 Sandpiper Festival and the return of the migrating shorebirds to the Bay of Fundy in August.
But, when former Dorchester Deputy Mayor Kara Becker asked council in March 2023 to collaborate with citizens to return Shep to her perch, she received little response.
“So, we just went ahead and put the statue back because it’s so important to us,” Becker told Warktimes later. “It’s pretty much the only thing we have.”
Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell
“I approached things the way we always did in Dorchester. I was afraid Shep’s feet and beak were going to the dump, so I salvaged them in hopes of reducing the cost of a new statue,” Wiggins-Colwell told Warktimes in December.
“When the whole thing blew up into national news, we had groups coming forward offering to pay for the statue and that’s what happened. Thanks to my efforts, the new Town of Tantramar did not pay one cent for it.”
At the same time though, Wiggins-Colwell says she will be glad to take the training council ordered her to undergo in November when it upheld the Code of Conduct violations outlined in the Montana investigator’s report.
To read Philippe Morin’s redacted investigator’s report, click here.
Note: Morin’s report also delved into Wiggins-Colwell’s role in the disposal of tables from Dorchester’s Veterans Community Centre. It concluded she should not have attended a meeting of VCC users because municipal staff had not invited her. For full coverage of the tables issue, click here.
For other previous coverage, click here.
P.S. For Shep’s private thoughts amidst the continuing Tantramar hubub, see Psalm 55 KJV: “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”
19 thousand. surely that’s more than it would have cost to fix the statue.
What a stupid way to run a town.
Good on you Bruce for extracting that information.
Oh dear … The final paragraph in this article seems to indicate that Tantramar’s hired Staff members are in control of our elected Councilors. Ms Wiggins-Colwell was chastised for attending a meeting – in her own ward – to which “municipal staff had not invited her.” She was elected by those residents to represent their best interests, and it stands to reason they would appreciate her being there, not to mention that any Councilor should make it a priority to maintain an awareness of what is happening in their own wards.
When did Staff members assume the role of dictating what Councilors are allowed to do?
I clearly recall a former Sackville town Councilor expounding on numerous occasions, regarding the relative roles of Council and Staff, saying that ‘Council makes the decisions, and Staff carry them out.’
Has that dynamic now reversed? Is the Municipal Staff truly in charge of dictating to Councilors as to where and when they are allowed to attend meetings? Are we seeing yet another example of the tail wagging the dog?
Who is really in charge in Tantramar?
It’s a shame that complaints had to be filed with the Ombud in order for this report to be released to the public that paid for it. Glad that people care enough to request openness and transparency. .Why was Councillor Wiggins-Colwell not supported by the administration to begin with? Why was she excluded from important meetings in her Ward? $19,000 is a waste of public funds for a simple matter that should have been acted upon prior to the transition as per previous orders/motions of Council to repair Shep. The investigation should’ve been about why Shep took so long and why the administration failed to carry out Council’s directive. Not to mention failure to communicate new processes which were to be followed but not yet enacted due to the transition. I agree with Sharon, the tail is wagging the dog.
“There are two issues with the fact that there was now a bird attached to the feet,” Morin writes.
If any municipality in Canada has spent this much money on a more idiotic and pointless report, I’d be interested in knowing where. There should be a prize.
Congratulations Bruce on your perseverence in finally managing to get the Office of the Ombud to properly perform its function and rule against the unnecessary secrecy that has been plaguing Town Hall for years now. Perhaps the office is finally giving more consideration to the right to information instead of just the right to privacy.