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By Blair Braitenbach
Staff reporter
Insurers and representatives for the three governing bodies involved in the legal fees dispute stemming from the Ward 1 Foothills School Division (FSD) trustee election recount have nearly finalized an agreement to cover both Jerry Muelaner’s and Beth Burk’s legal fees.
Insurers and lawyers for the FSD, MD of Foothills and Town of Turner Valley have been negotiating since late December/early January to decide who should pay what portion of the $100,000 in legal costs stemming from the Ward 1 recount court battle.
After a recount on Oct. 17, incumbent Muelaner lost the election to Burk after approximately 375 votes were declared void, mostly from the Turner Valley area, because they had not been initialed by polling officials. Muelaner took his case to the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary.
According to Drew Chipman, secretary-treasurer of the FSD, lawyers and insurers for the three governing bodies have all but settled on an agreement to cover the fees associated with Muelaner and Burk. The three parties will share the costs of those fees, Chipman said.
“The pending agreement is to go ahead and pay out Ms. Burk and Mr. Muelaner, and then continue to work towards a resolution of how those costs and the rest of the costs will be distributed among the other three parties,” Chipman said.
“That’s the insurers and the lawyers coming to that agreement.”
Burk’s lawyer Brian Davison said he has been made aware of the pending agreement and assumes he and Muelaner’s legal counsel will be paid soon.
“I’m expecting to get a payment in the next short while,” Davison said.
He noted he and Muelaner’s counsel will be out of any negotiation and court processes now that their portions are being settled.
A court date has been set for May 14 with the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary to settle the costs between the MD, FSD and Town of Turner Valley. However, Chipman is still hopeful the situation will be concluded prior to that date.
“This is a really delicate situation, we have great relationships with the Town of Turner Valley and the MD and we don’t want to jeopardize those. I am sure that it is reciprocal. It certainly wasn’t Ms. Burk’s fault or Mr. Muelaner’s fault with what occurred, so I think getting them out of the mix is something everyone can be happy about,” Chipman said.
The Town of Turner Valley and the MD are taking the position that they should not be responsible for any of the legal fees accrued through the court process last year.
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