The ex-mayor of Dawson City is telling territorial officials he told them so after a local company launched a lawsuit against the town for more than $526,000.

'It's not a surprise to me,' Glen Everitt said in an interview today.

'I warned of it.'

Callison Waste Management Ltd. issued the lawsuit against the town last Tuesday, the same day Community Services Minister Glenn Hart fired Everitt and the entire council.

The waste company wants $526,550.40 from the community for loss of profits from the contract along with an unspecified amount for interest and legal costs.

Dawson is already swimming in $4.4-million worth of red ink.

The lawsuit came out of a situation over the past two months.

At the time, the town was under the thumb of government-appointed supervisor Andre Carrel, who had worked out a financial plan for the cash-strapped town of 1,800 people.

The town issued a request for businesses to submit proposals for dealing with its garbage. At the time, according to Everitt, the council asked Carrel if he wanted to see the proposal and the supervisor replied he wasn't interested.

The town was asking for proposals on basic garbage pickup but was also interested in plans for more service than the bare minimum, including recycling.

A total of six proposals were made. They consisted of three basic proposals between $95,000 and $105,000 and three more complex plans between $117,000 and $120,000, yearly.

Council decided it could afford to go with a better plan by raising garbage collection fees. It gave the contract to Callison Waste Management for $117,000.

That was when Carrel stepped in. The supervisor said Dawson was going beyond the financial plan it had to stay in.

Carrel said some of the fee increases for garbage collection ($75 to $100 for residences, $75 to $150 for businesses) were OK, but an increase of $75 to $500 for grocery stores and restaurants was unacceptable. He wanted council to give it to the lowest bidder of the basic proposals.

Since he believed the town breached the financial plan for handing out the contract for $117,000 a year, he recommended to Hart the entire council and the mayor be fired.

Hart balked and told the council to rescind the contract or it would be toast.

A couple of weeks ago, council grudgingly voted to give the contract to Ed Repair for $95,000 and take it away from Callison.

At the time, the mayor and two councillors who voted to rescind the deal indicated the government could be setting the town up for to be sued by Callison.

One of the councillors was absent from the meeting, while the other, Joanne Van Nostrand, a restaurant owner, voted against rescinding the contract and resigned from council in protest.

A week later, Hart swept the rest of council out of the office. He replaced them with a trustee because he wanted to deal with someone who was more co-operative than the council had been.

'By revoking or removing the award for the RFP (request for proposals) from Callison, Dawson unilaterally breached the contract which it had entered into with Callison causing Callison to suffer contractual damages and loss of profits,' the lawsuit states.

Everitt said Callison and its owner, Wayne Rachel, were screwed by Carrel.

'I don't blame Mr. Rachel from Callison Waste Management one bit because what was done to him was wrong,' said Everitt.

'We were being set up for a lawsuit, but that was being ignored.'

When Carrel was warned of the possible lawsuit, Everitt said, the supervisor said any councillor who voted for the $117,000-contract in the first place would be financially responsible.

Everitt believes it was a stretch for Carrel to say the council was going outside of its financial plan. He said the $117,000-contract fit within the financial plan.

The government saved the town $110,000 for changing the five-year contract to Ed Repair.

If the town pays out what Callison wants, the change will tack on an extra $526,000 to the town's debt.

In an interview today, Carrel said whether it was his or council's direction which led to the lawsuit will be part of the case. Otherwise, he would not talk about the case.

'The trustee (Ray Hayes) is going to have to deal with that.'

Hart was likewise not commenting today, throwing up the traditional roadblock that he doesn't want to comment because the matter is in the courts.