Assault charge against ex-Chestermere official withdrawn

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An assault cost in opposition to a former prime official on the Metropolis of Chestermere has been withdrawn after greater than a yr of weaving by means of the provincial courts system, in line with her lawyer.

Kim Wallace, one of many metropolis’s former chief administrative officers, appeared briefly in provincial courtroom in Strathmore on Monday, the place Crown prosecutors withdrew the only assault cost after she accomplished a diversion program.

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Wallace — who was fired by the province alongside the town’s mayor, three councillors and two different metropolis officers in December final yr — was accused of forcibly poking a subordinate throughout a disagreement at metropolis corridor in January 2023.

Sarah Willgress testified final July, when the trial started, that Wallace gave her a two-fingered jab in the correct shoulder throughout a heated assembly. Two witnesses additionally testified in assist of Willgress’s accusation.

Taking the stand in her personal defence on the time, Wallace denied that the incident ever occurred.

Monday’s look was scheduled as a continuation of that trial. As a substitute, Wallace’s cost was withdrawn as a consequence of her completion of an alternate measures program.

Wallace’s defence lawyer, Alain Hepner, didn’t provide particular particulars about what that program entailed.

“This was a really minor allegation. However in opposition to the backdrop of this complete Chestermere metropolis council versus the Municipal Authorities Act and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, , there have been so many shifting elements. That’s all modified. All the things’s modified. The entire panorama’s modified,” Hepner advised Postmedia on Tuesday.

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Of the greater than year-long course of that led up to now, Hepner mentioned, “It’s commonplace that issues occur late within the day.”

Chestermere’s former mayor, Jeff Colvin, and three councillors proceed to problem their dismissals — together with Wallace’s — in courtroom by way of an utility for a judicial evaluate. The council members and metropolis officers have been dismissed after failing to stick to binding directives set out by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, and an investigation into their governance discovered a number of improprieties.

A byelection is slated to happen earlier than June, although a particular date remains to be to be decided.

Colvin and the ousted councillors plan to run to reclaim their seats if their authorized challenges are unsuccessful.

mrodriguez@postmedia.com

X: @MichaelRdrguez

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