Province takes over new municipality divided by council turmoil

The door was locked at the Lakeland Ridges municipal office this week.

Inside, a phone was ringing. No one was there to answer it.

By the road, the old Canterbury village hall sign was faded, almost illegible, giving no hint of the newly created municipality's name.

Last week, the New Brunswick government announced it was taking over administration of the community, stripping the elected council of its authority and appointing a supervisor to make decisions.

People in the municipality, created by the Higgs government's local government reform, were left bewildered.

"I'd like to know everything, the whole situation, why they're acting up," said Laura Roussell, who has run Russell's Place, a general store and coffee shop, for 47 years.

Getting answers isn't easy. 

The province won't say what exactly triggered its move. 

The province's Control of Municipalities Act allows it when a municipality can't pay its bills, when there aren't enough councillors for the quorum required to hold a meeting or when council "is not able to carry on the business of a council."

A statement from Local Government Minister Glen Savoie didn't say which of those prompted his decision.

"Unfortunately I am unable to comment at this time," Mayor Tanya Cloutier said in an email.

But according to some residents, the council has been bitterly divided, with some members accused of sabotaging the smooth functioning of the newly created administration.

"I'm very disappointed in the way things have turned out, but I'm not surprised," said Steve Manuel, a former mayor of Meductic, one of two villages absorbed into Lakeland Ridges.

The municipality has an estimated population of 2,600 people in a sprawling area below Woodstock on the St. John River.