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Dawson City pursues payback from ex mayor convicted of breach of trust

The City of Dawson is trying to get a former mayor convicted of misappropriation of public funds to pay back money he still owes.

The City of Dawson is trying to get a former mayor convicted of misappropriation of public funds to pay back money he still owes.

On April 10 the city asked Yukon Supreme Court to order Glen Everitt to pay back $28,500 of the $38,300 he was ordered in 2010 to repay.

“The city is taking steps to reclaim what it’s owed,” Wayne Potoroka, Dawson City’s mayor, told the News.

Potoroka declined to say what prompted the city to seek the order or whether officials knew how to reach Everitt.

Everitt was convicted in 2010 and shortly after moved to Chatham, Ont. At the time Yukon territorial court ordered him to pay back $38,300.

The city has filed several writs to order five banks and one Yukon company to garnish Everitt’s wages.

An affidavit filed to the case shows Everitt stopped making payments in June 2013, after paying back $9,800.

Everitt was Dawson City’s mayor from 1997 until 2004, when allegations of financial misappropriation arose. The territorial government stepped in, removed Everitt and took over the management of the city.

In 2006 the government came out with a $3.4-million bailout package to pay for the city’s $5-million debt. That year the city elected a new mayor for the first time since Everitt’s dramatic ouster.

A forensic audit completed in 2005 pointed to $100,000 in misappropriation, including an $1,800 bar tab Everitt put on the town’s credit card.

“As it stands now, I owe nothing. I owe zero,” Everitt told the News in 2006. “I said we have to go through everything. Show me what I owe. The files are there. Let’s take an honest look at it.”

After a two-year investigation Yukon RCMP charged the former mayor in 2007 with two counts of breach of trust by a public officer, two counts of fraud and two counts of theft over $5,000.

In 2009 the city sued Everitt alleging he owed over $43,000 for personal loans made in 1997.

The city at the time claimed Everitt sent a cheque to pay back the loans but the cheque bounced.

Everitt denied the allegations and countersued the city for $59,000, claiming unpaid overtime for the seven years he worked as mayor.

Eventually the court discontinued the case at the city’s request.

Everitt ended up pleading guilty in 2010 to one count of breach of trust by a public officer and was sentenced to a 12-month conditional sentence. He was also ordered to repay the $38,300.

The News couldn’t reach Everitt by deadline.

Contact Pierre Chauvin at pierre.chauvin@yukon-news.com