It appears that one civil lawsuit against Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay is dead and the status of a second one filed by the municipality is unclear.
Another unknown is the status of a complaint made by the municipality and sent to RCMP.
No information is coming from the City of Nanaimo on any of these matters.
“There is nothing to report [or] share at this time,” Philip Cooper, Nanaimo’s communication and engagement director, said in a statement on Tuesday.
In November, the municipality sent RCMP information containing allegations regarding the mayor that related to financial disclosure reporting, business dealings and trade missions.
McKay denied at the time that there had been any wrongdoing.
He could not be reached on Tuesday afternoon.
The status of the matter with the RCMP has not been made public.
An RCMP spokeswoman said in November that outside expertise was being brought in to examine the allegations. Police would not say who was doing the investigation.
Nanaimo Coun. Coun. Bill Bestwick said Tuesday that the city has not heard from the police on this. “It would be great to have a response to the issuance of those complaints.”
As for the two December lawsuits, B.C.’s court services online records only show the date that each was launched. Those dates are the last time the files were updated.
The first lawsuit against McKay was filed Dec. 22 of last year. A group of 10 Nanaimo residents filed a petition in the Supreme Court of B.C. aiming to have McKay disqualified from holding office.
In that case, residents allege McKay was in conflict in dealing with a private firm and individual. McKay has disputed that in an interview.
Victoria lawyer John Alexander, who specializes in municipal law, said the petition would have had to been served to McKay by seven days after Dec. 22.
If it was not served, the petitioners would be out of time to pursue the matter, he said.
And if it was served within those seven days, the mayor had 21 days to file a response. No response is shown as being filed, according to court services online.
“That indicates to me that it is not going ahead,” Alexander said.
Anyone wanting to pursue the case further would face an almost impossible limitation problem, he said.
Tim McGrath, one of 10 residents involved in the suit, said in a statement Tuesday: “We have no comment at this time.”
As for Nanaimo’s notice of civil claim filed on Dec. 28, a respondent does not have to be served for a year and even then, extensions can be applied for, according to the Supreme Court office.
Nanaimo is asking for damages in a matter involving whether confidential information was provided to a former staff member.
Bestwick said: “There has been no change in the municipality’s position to my knowledge.”
