Haines Junction municipal councillor Dave Weir is responding to the resignation letter of the village's former chief administrative officer (CAO), who took issue with Weir's behavior in council chambers.

Michael Riseborough resigned as CAO earlier this month prior to the resignation of former mayor George Nassiopoulos.

The village is hiring a new CAO and holding a byelection for the mayor's seat, tentatively set for Nov. 7.

A two-page letter submitted to Nassiopoulos on Sept. 11 by Riseborough takes issue with a councillor's actions in council chambers and at the offence he took at the councillor eating during the meeting.

While Riseborough did not mention the names of any councillors in his letter, Weir has said it was him who Riseborough was referring to in the letter.

Weir posted both Riseborough's letter and a reply on his blog (http://junctionjabber.wordpress.com).

Riseborough's letter begins by thanking deputy mayor Mike Crawshay and Coun. Bruce Tomlin for asking him to reconsider his resignation, noting he is grateful for their support.

"My concerns with respect to how the village will move forward in the future are predicated on a number of issues that came to the fore at last Wednesday night's meeting, and compounding the gravity of the situation which gave rise to my initial tendering of my resignation,” reads the letter.

Riseborough then went on to note his family background – his mother was a judge, his father a lawyer – and that he was "brought up to respect the sanctity of our judicial system and I need not remind you and council that you, as elected officials in municipal government, are the most fundamental of our society's law makers.”

He then pointed to a councillor "sauntering” into council chambers with a "granola bowl,” arguing it was "completely contemptuous of the council and the chamber.”

While it may be acceptable to question authority, it is unacceptable to treat a council meeting as a picnic, Riseborough wrote.

He then went on to note the same councillor accused "the mayor of inappropriate behaviour.”

The councillor forced the mayor to return to Haines Junction from Whitehorse and have council members make themselves available immediately "to address unsubstantiated allegations sufficiently trivial, and he failed to make other arrangements that he might give the issue his full and undivided attention without allowing the distraction that he might be called away.

"In my view, such behaviour is contemptuously arrogant, and there is no way that I could, in conscious, use my skill set to support the architect of such potentially degenerate proceedings.”

Riseborough then noted another councillor's comments suggesting steps should be taken to prevent a recurrence of the situation make him question whether the councillor's materials on the rules of council, provided following last October's election, were read.

"It is with a great deal of regret on the one hand that I must decline your kind offer to return to even temporary employment with the village, but given the foregoing circumstances, I have no real desire to facilitate a seamless transition to a new chief administrative officer if such action simply absolved or encourages continuance of the foregoing abhorrent behaviour on the part of certain councillors.

"While I genuinely regret leaving the village ‘in the lurch,' as it were, and offer my profuse apologies for doing so, I believe such action may be in the long-term best interests of our community.”

Weir isn't speaking publicly to the issues he brought up concerning the mayor. He noted they were dealt with at an in-camera session which members can't speak about.

He did, however, acknowledge he is the councillor who arrived at council chambers with a bowl – its contents though were moose stew, not granola – and did indeed have his radio with him though it was off during the meeting.

"I needed to eat,” Weir explained this morning, noting that he had just wrapped up an ambulance call and hadn't eaten for six hours.

"I don't see that as disrespectful to the community,” he added, pointing out that the ambulance service in Haines Junction is currently short attendants and he will continue to volunteer.

Weir also noted that during his time on council, he has worked to ask important questions to help his community.

They have ranged from questioning why the public works department is doing work that could be contracted out, whether money should be spent on the curling rink without a comprehensive study on the building, clarifying how animal control bylaws are enforced and pushing forward on a number of other issues.

In his response on his blog, Weir noted he encourages anyone concerned about his behaviour as a councillor to bring them forward on his blog or in person.

"As a council, it is important that we rectify any misrepresentations of individual councillors or staff as more information is made available to the public,” he wrote.

"Above all, though, it is my hope that we can learn from this situation and move forward as best we can to serve our community.”

Weir noted that responses to his blog postings have so far been positive. He conceded, however, that he doesn't want to assume that is the view of the majority.

He noted his hope that council can move forward and get on with the business of governing and dealing with issues important to the community.