Enterprise has a by-election date. Now there’s a new question.

The Hamlet of Enterprise plans to fill some empty council seats with a by-election on May 6. But are there three seats to fill, or four?

While some residents of the community – one of the NWT’s smallest, with around 60 eligible voters – expressed relief at seeing the by-election date announced this week, others have mixed emotions.

“It feels good that we’re moving ahead. Once again, it took too long for them to post the by-election,” said former mayor Mike St Amour.

“I was always concerned about the timelines of this.”

St Amour lost a mayoral election to Sandra McMaster in February. The moment that outcome was known, four people either resigned from existing positions on council or, having just been elected, said they would not take up their positions.

Since then, residents have waited more than a month to learn what comes next for their local government.

The nomination period for the new by-election opened on April 2 and will close on April 15, according to a hamlet Facebook post. However, that post doesn’t specify how many seats are to be filled.

February’s resignations were an act of protest against McMaster, whom multiple people said they did not wish to work alongside. (McMaster, a former councillor, has said she was never given a chance as mayor.)

Jim Dives was a sitting councillor at the time of February’s election. He sent a resignation text message to hamlet senior administrative officer Blair Porter on February 14, the night the new council was to be sworn in.

But Dives’ text message had the wrong date and no signature, which Dives says invalidated his attempt at resignation. A few days later, Dives says, he received a call from the hamlet office asking him to send a more formal letter, dated and signed. He refused.

“It wasn’t a valid resignation,” said Dives.

“I needed to talk to somebody in a position of authority, i.e. the mayor or SAO. I said I wasn’t going to do anything towards the resignation, period. And to this date, I still haven’t heard from either one of them.”

Dives now says he wants to retain his seat on council and get on with advancing the community’s interests.

“My objective is to help council run an efficient hamlet,” said Dives. “The only way I can effect any kind of a change is to stay on council.”

He says Vince McKay, minister in charge of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, told him he’s still a council member as far as the department is concerned. (The department was approached for comment on Wednesday evening.)

‘I feel like a mushroom’

Regardless of whether Dives’ seat is open, council will remain incomplete until all six seats are filled.

Before then, Porter previously told Cabin Radio, council will only address vital business. One special council meeting was held on March 22 to assign hamlet signatories and appoint a deputy mayor.

“That was the only two things on the agenda,” McMaster said of the special meeting. “That’s all we talked about.”

Dives says he was not informed of the special council meeting nor offered a digital means of attending as a councillor. (He’s living outside the hamlet for now, having lost his home in last summer’s wildfire.)

“It’s sort-of a Catch-22,” said Dives. “Even if they turned around and accepted my resignation that night [of the special council meeting], up until that night, I was still by law a councillor. I still had to be notified. They didn’t do that.

“I feel like a mushroom: I’m being kept in the dark and crapped on.”

St Amour says he hasn’t had much contact with McMaster since the wildfire last year. More recently, he says he has asked McMaster questions but hasn’t heard back.

“After that meeting, I went in there and said, ‘I hope you do well. If you need support, just call me,'” said St Amour.

Before the election, Enterprise was in the midst of important negotiations with the territorial government.

Those discussions related to resolving a longstanding dispute over land title for equity lease holders and disaster relief after a wildfire burned the majority of infrastructure in the community last summer.

“We are looking forward to filling the vacancies on council and moving forward with hamlet business to rebuild Enterprise,” read a statement announcing the by-election date.