Councillors blast withdrawn lawsuit as ‘unacceptable’

Cody alleged Botha knew his claim was baseless and continued even when provided with evidence that proved Kilmer was never in a conflict of interest — an allegation put forward in the suit. Botha was one of several who formed a group, called Prince Albert Business and Residents Advocacy Group (PABRAG) last November with the goal of making sure community concerns were heard by city council.

“I think we should sue the guy and if I were Kilmer, I would sue him for a lot more than that. It’s defamation of character what he did to this woman and it’s wrong and it should be straightened out,” he said.

The lawsuit, filed in November, against Kilmer and the City of Prince Albert claimed Kilmer was in a conflict of interest as a member of the Prince Albert Raiders hockey club board. It alleged she received financial gain in the form of season tickets. It also claimed she voted on matters regarding the building of large arena which would host the Raiders while still being on their board.

She had in fact resigned from the Raiders as soon as she was elected and, despite that being pointed out to Botha by the city, he pursued the lawsuit, Mayor Greg Dionne has said.

The Raiders said none of their board members receive free tickets or passes.

Coun. Blake Edwards called the lawsuit “appalling” and suggested the people behind it would never apologize. He claims the group had other motivations.

“This is terrible that an individual or a group of individuals – some that stayed in the background – would bring this forward, try to demean her character. For what? To try and stop a project?” he said.

Construction of phase one of the project, an aquatics centre and two small hockey arenas is well underway but the city is gearing up to find out the full costs of the large arena that would be an event centre and house the Raiders.

The vote to pay for Kilmer’s outstanding legal fees was unanimous, except for Kilmer herself who left the room after declaring a conflict of interest.

paNOW reached out to Evert Botha for comment, but did not receive a response.

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Council buys more land and gets started on design of 4,500 seat arena

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Councillors blast withdrawn lawsuit as ‘unacceptable’

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