• Home
  • About
    • About Christopher di Armani
    • Disclosure Statement
    • Code of Ethics
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Gun Laws 101
  • FPO Violators
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Hire Me

Christopher di Armani.com

In Praise of Individual Rights and Freedoms

  • Top 25
  • Big Brother
    • Access To Information
    • Bureaucratic Incompetence
    • Bureaucrat’s Rule #1
    • Censorship
    • Feeding at the Government Trough
    • Lemonade Freedom
  • Common Sense
    • Expressions of Gratitude
    • Good Samaritans
    • Good Stuff
    • In Memoriam — Remembering our Heros
    • Life
    • Personal Responsibility
    • Politically Correct Madness
  • Courts
    • Abusive Prosecutions
    • Civil Forfeiture
    • Human Rights Tribunals
    • Judicial Corruption
    • Justice Denied
    • Justice System Abuses
    • Police Sentencing Double-Standards
    • Prosecutorial Misconduct
    • SLAPP Lawsuits
  • Crime
    • Abuse of Trust
    • Canadian Mass Murders
    • Firearm Prohibition Orders
    • Human Depravity
    • Immigration Issues
    • Racism
    • Restraining Orders
    • Sexual Predators
    • Violent Criminals
    • Wrongful Convictions
  • Guns
    • Concealed Carry
    • Dial 9-1-1 and Die
    • Firearms Act
    • Fun Gun Stuff
    • Gun Control
    • Gun-Free Zones
    • Gun Politics
    • Gun Registration
    • Negligent Discharges
    • Target Shooting Competitions
  • Islam
    • Canadian Islamic Disgraces
    • Islamic Terrorism
    • Radical Islam
    • Sharia Law
    • The Religion Of Peace
  • Police
    • Abuse of Police Authority
    • Filming Police
    • Great Police Officers
    • Officer Down
    • Police Brutality
    • Police Corruption
    • Police Misconduct
    • RCMP Accountability
    • RCMP Hall of Shame
    • Warrantless Searches
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Ethics in Politics
    • Political Antics
    • Political Corruption
    • Social Justice
    • Stupid Human Tricks
    • Union Bay Improvement District
  • Rights
    • Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    • Constitutional Violations
    • Freedom of Assembly
    • Freedom of Religion
    • Freedom of Speech
    • Property Rights
    • Privacy Rights
    • Self-Defense
    • Unreasonable Search and Seizure

Alan deJersey, Denis Royer, and David Godfrey voted to spend $50,000 in direct conflict of interest

Published August 30, 2011 by Christopher di Armani Filed Under: Ethics in Politics, Freedom of Speech, Politics, Union Bay Improvement District


Alan de Jersey, Denis Royer, and David Godfrey voted to spend $50,000 in what appears to be a rather large conflict of interest in the handling of Union Bay Improvement District (UBID) funds.

It appears evident to me (as well as many of those who reside in Union Bay) that Alan de Jersey, Denis Royer, and David Godfrey (the former trustees recently removed from the UBID board) need a little education about the definition of “conflict of interest.”

You see, they voted to spend an additional $50,000 of UBID funds to continue financing their lawsuit against Union Bay blogger Mary Reynolds, a lawsuit in which each of these men were (and still are) personally listed as plaintiffs.

That means that each one of them personally benefited from the passage of the motion put forward by then-UBID Chairperson Alan de Jersey. The money for the lawsuit no longer had to come out of their own pockets.  It came out of the UBID treasury.

From Webster’s Dictionary:

a conflict between the private interests of the official responsibilities of a person in a position of trust

Dictionary.com defines it thus:

1. the circumstance of a public officeholder, business executive, or the like, whose personal interests might benefit from his or her official actions or influence.

 

Personally, I find the Dictionary.com definition to be much more accurate when it comes to the recent antics in Union Bay politics.

Unless your head is completely buried somewhere it shouldn’t be, it is obvious that by voting to spend another $50,000 of the UBID’s money instead of their own, their personal financial interests were advanced at the expense of all those who pay taxes in support of the Union Bay Improvement District.

That is, simply put, a conflict of interest.

The direct personal benefit to each of these men could not have happened without their votes.  That makes this the clearest-cut example of conflict of interest that I’ve seen in a long time.

In fact two trustees voted AGAINST the motion, but were outnumbered by the three who stood to benefit personally from the motion’s passage.

Do I need to point out that the two who voted against the motion were not party to the lawsuit against Mary Reynolds and therefore were not going to benefit personally from this motion’s passage?

I should hope not.

From where I stand, the two trustees who voted against this motion were actually looking out for the interests of the Union Bay taxpayers instead of themselves.  You know, exactly the sort of thing de Jersey, Royer and Godfrey ought to have been doing…

It is important to note this is not the first money paid out of the UBID treasury that personally benefited Alan de Jersey, Denis Royer, and David Godfrey.  This is just the continuing installment that ended up costing Union Bay taxpayers roughly $120,000 before the new board voted to stop funding the vendetta against Mary Reynolds.

Interestingly enough, it was the passage of the vote to STOP funding this lawsuit against Mary Reynolds that first brought this case onto my radar. I hadn’t heard of the case before then, and the more I dig into it, the more offensive the stench in the air surrounding Union Bay.

There is a hilarious irony to all of this, of course.

Had their egos not gotten the better of them, they could have avoided this [alleged] conflict of interest quite easily.  But that’s not what happened.  Their egos did get the better of them, and they just had to place their names individually on the lawsuit.

And that’s what creates the conflict of interest.

Had they simply left their names (and egos) out of it, there would have been no conflict.  If the UBID board of trustees felt so strongly about silencing Mary Reynolds’ Right to Free Speech that they wanted to sue her to shut her up, they are perfectly able to give that a go.

Law and court precedent is against them, but who cares when it’s not your money that’s being wasted, right?

They would have been seen as acting in the interest of the District.

But they were not.

They were acting in their own self-interest and making the good people of Union Bay foot the tab for their [alleged] personal vendetta against Mary Reynolds.

That’s what caused all the ruckus at the May elections in Union Bay.  The taxpayers were really pissed off at being forced to pay over $100,000 in legal fees for their trustees’ personal hatred of Mary Reynolds.

It would seem that taxpayers’ anger and resentment towards the people who were supposed to have Union Bay’s best interests at heart (and not their own) is what caused Denis Royer and David Godfrey to be voted out of office.  It also probably had a lot to do with causing Alan de Jersey to quit in a huff a month later.

Those pesky “citizens” got too uppity for his liking, I guess.

Who can blame them.  Really.  The average annual after-tax income for the Union Bay area is only $21,000.  When their Board of Trustees decides to spend the entire annual earnings of 5 people to sue a lone blogger, it’s to be expected that even the most complacent Union Bay Taxpayer will get a little uppity.

 

The motion put forward on April 8, 2011 and listed as “duly passed” in what appears to be the official record of that motion, reads as follows:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

1. UBID pay a further retainer to the Solicitors of $50,000 for the purposes described above on behalf of itself and the other Plaintiffs in Action S-10761 and the Defendants in Action number C1474.

(Note: The “purposes described above” can be read in the full document which interested parties can download from https://christopherdiarmani.com/downloads/UBID-Resolution-2011-04-08.pdf.  In short, it is the lawsuit they filed against Mary Reynolds. )

2. The payment of the retainer be made without the necessity of seeking indemnification from the individual Plaintiffs, which claims for indemnity are hereby waived pursuant to section 743 of the Local Government Act;

3. The Board of UBID accepts and ratifies the services received from the Solicitors to date as being efficient and productive and in accordance with the instructions of UBID;

4. The Board of UBID accepts the invoices rendered by the solicitors to date as being fair and reasonable, and waves any right to taxation thereof.

BY THE BOARD:

Signed by
Alan de Jersey (Chair)
Dennis Royer
David Godfrey

and certified to be a true copy of Resolution #2011-04-08 by B. Fisher

Opposed to the motion were Cleve Goldswain and Bruce Livesey.

 

I found it interesting that they felt no need to seek indemnification for their actions.  They would seem to be getting some poor legal advice since, as I understand it, indemnification only protects trustees when they are being sued, NOT when they instigate a lawsuit.

This view was recently echoed by Carol Molstad, the new Chairperson of the Union Bay Improvement District.

Quoting from the minutes of the July 20, 2011 UBID Board Meeting:

b. Mary Reynolds letter – This letter asked that the Board clarify how the Local Government Act (LGA) applies regarding indemnification. C. Molstad stated that UBID’s legal counsel concurs with the information provided. That is, that under section 745 and 287 of the LGA the intent of the indemnification provisions is to provide protection to individual members in terms of the costs associated with actions brought against them while in the course of their duties, not meant to allow for payment of claims they have against other people.  (emphasis mine)

In its motions, the previous Board agreed to pay legal fees and not seek back those fees from the individual co-plaintiffs.

That would seem to leave every single one of the people listed in the lawsuit against Mary Reynolds open to a lawsuit from the citizens of Union Bay to recover the funds their past trustees and employees squandered in their zeal to shut up a lone 60-year-old woman.

The lawsuit intended to silence blogger Mary Reynolds and strip her of her Freedom of Speech is not over, either.

That lawsuit is alive and well and winding its way through the BC Courts, and there is currently a “Consent Order” in place that apparently restricts Ms. Reynolds from speaking publicly about pretty much anything in Union Bay.

The one thing of importance to note, aside from the fact this lawsuit is still before the courts, is that Alan de Jersey, David Godfrey and Denis Royer no longer have the luxury of having someone else foot the lawsuit’s tab for them.

Along with fellow plaintiffs Brenda Fisher, James Smith, David McDowell, Debora McMahon aka Debbie Prowse and Gloria Royer, they now have to pay for the case with their own money.

That must really piss them off.

Lawsuits are so much more fun when someone else is paying for it, aren’t they?

Author

  • Christopher di Armani
    Christopher di Armani

    Christopher di Armani is a freedom-loving Amazon bestselling author and current events commentator from Lytton, BC, Canada, who strives to awaken the passion for liberty inside every human being.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: Alan de Jersey, conflict of interest, David Godfrey, Denis Royer, freedom of speech, Gloria Royer, mary reynolds, Union Bay Improvement District (UBID) corruption

Did you find value in this article?

If you found this article useful or it contained valuable information and you want to thank me, the best way is to buy me a coffee or two.

1. Send an Interac eTransfer to author @ christopherdiarmani.net (remove spaces)

2. Send via PayPal using this link: https://www.paypal.me/ThatLibertyGuy

3. Use your credit card in my online store to support me with a one-time donation, a monthly recurring donation, or an annual donation. See these links for all the details about the thank-you gifts I offer my supporters.

Comments

  1. Kenneth G Ryan says

    March 12, 2012 at 8:31 am

    Obviously I’ve read this too late!!! First I’ve no idea where Union Bay is, never mind knowing nothing of the issues other than a member or members of Public Office have dipped into the coffers! Nothing new there! As a Canadian I’ve become comfortable with that. If anyone wants to stop the legal hassle I would suggest emptying the coffers on the lawyers desk. That will get it spent quickly and unless the law firm issues credit LOL, the issue will suffer shelf life and expire soon.
    Solicit the government and have a Union Bay Supervisor appointed.
    My personal opinion is children, Livestock (including pigs),retired politicians, retired school teachers, retired RCMP, ex cons nor union leaders should be allowed in these positions. I would much prefer the three people who pay the most income tax on their taxable earnings be asked to lead the operation. They in my opinion will no more about money and government.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Corrupt and Autocratic Politicians are the same the world over | Christopher di Armani.com says:
    September 3, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    […] as I wrote in my last article, lawsuits are a lot more fun when someone else is footing the […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to my commentaries

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Latest Tweets

Follow @ThatLibertyGuy

Christopher di Armani 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
@ThatLibertyGuy

  • New comment: Edmonton Police Service Constable Adam Kube Refused Any Appeal In His Termination for Corrupt Practices christopherdiarmani.com/10846/police/p…
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • A big shout out to @CandiceMalcolm, @AndrewLawton, @AnthonyFurey and the entire team at @TrueNorthCentre for sendin… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
    about 4 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • For earthly princes lay aside their power when they rise up against God, and are unworthy to be reckoned among the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
    about 1 month ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: Paul Rogan Passes: The End of an Era christopherdiarmani.com/18908/common-s…
    about 2 months ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • To restore common sense to our nation, this is the path. The political left works around the clock and around the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
    about 2 months ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite

Most Popular This Week

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • No Right to Bear Arms in Canada? You might want to re-check your history.
  • A Historic Day for Freedom of Speech: Geert Wilders
  • The National Anthem BANNED… at Indiana’s Goshen College?
  • Thank God for Andrew Abbass and his Lawyer
  • Paul Palango: One Man’s Pursuit of the Truth Could be the RCMP’s Undoing
  • Yvon Mercier: From RCMP Depot Trainer to Double-Murderer

Most Popular This Month

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • Yvon Mercier: From RCMP Depot Trainer to Double-Murderer
  • OPP Sgt. Mike Dolderman’s Sexual Assault Trial Delayed Again
  • How did Live-Streaming Rape Become a ‘Thing’?
  • Dale Merle Nelson’s 1970 Murder Spree in Creston, British Columbia
  • OPP Sergeant Jamie Gillespie Pleads Guilty to attempting to intercept private communications
  • Escaped Mental Patient William Bernard Lepine and the 1972 Kettle Valley Murders

© 2004–2023 ChristopherDiArmani.com | All Rights Reserved

Close

Buy me a cup of coffee

A ridiculous amount of coffee was consumed in the process of writing these articles. If you enjoy my work, please buy me a coffee or two to keep me going!