Eddie Rice has returned to Charlottetown city council but only on a limited basis.
Rice attended council’s July regular public monthly meeting on Monday, his first meeting in the past 20 months.
The Ward 1 representative had been off on medical leave since Sept. 22 after what he said was a brain bleed last year. Rice also said he was dealing with other family issues.
Rice said Monday night he was thrilled to be back and was looking forward to getting back to work.
Mayor Clifford Lee told The Guardian on Tuesday that the city had been operating on the understanding that when someone goes out on sick leave that person must produce a letter from their physician before the person is allowed to return to active duty.
“. . . based on the letter I received from Eddie’s doctor, the doctor specifically suggested that he probably should not be placed on committees, so I’m following that advice from his medical doctor and I’m not going to put him on committees.’’
- Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee
However, there is no mention in the Municipal Government Act, the province’s legislation, that sets out what the procedure is for handling municipal elected officials out on sick leave.
“The legislation is silent,’’ Lee said. “There’s nothing in the legislation that deals with this situation.’’
What it means is that Rice is free to re-join council. Neither the mayor nor council itself can prevent him from attending meetings as the Ward 1 representative.
But, Lee said, Rice’s duties will be limited.
“He’s a member of city council. He has the right to vote on every issue that comes forth. The only difference at this point and time is that he’s not on any committees of council. He’s not chairing the water and sewer committee.’’
When it was time to deliver the Water and Sewer Utility report to council at Monday’s meeting, Rice, who was chairman of the committee prior to his medical leave, remained sitting while Deputy Mayor Mike Duffy, vice-chairman of the committee, gave the report. Duffy has been filling in for Rice in his absence.
“The legislation does allow the mayor to select the committees of council and the appointments of those committees and, based on the letter I received from Eddie’s doctor, the doctor specifically suggested that he probably should not be placed on committees so I’m following that advice from his medical doctor and I’m not going to put him on committees.’’
Nothing changes at this time because Lee re-arranged the committee structure upon Rice’s medical leave in September.
So, essentially Rice can represent his ward on council but that’s it unless, Lee said, the province makes a change to the Municipal Government Act.
“My understanding is legislation can only be changed in the legislative assembly and even if the legislation was changed you can’t make it retroactive so I don’t anticipate between now and November (the municipal election) that the house will have had enough time to amend its legislation to deal with this situation, if they choose to go down that road.’’
Lee said he fired off a letter to the provincial minister responsible for municipalities suggesting it may be time to give some thought to bringing in rules and regulations around medical leave for elected officials.
