Province to run Winnipeg Beach after council loses quorum

The province has appointed a town administrator to help run Winnipeg Beach following the loss of town council quorum. CTV’s Jeff Keele explains.

Winnipeg Beach’s town council is being dissolved following a string of resignations.

The province says it is appointing an administrator to run the municipality after the council fell below the minimum number of members needed to form a quorum. Once the administrator is officially in place, all remaining council members will be deemed to have resigned.

The move was triggered April 30 when Coun. Doug Jarvis abruptly stepped down—a decision that blindsided Mayor Stan Potten.

“I was as surprised as anybody else,” said Potten. “It was never brought up for discussion. We never talked about anything — no warning, no nothing. He was done.”

Combined with a resignation last year and the death of another council member in December, Jarvis’s departure left council with just two members—short of the number required to continue operating.

“We were going forward very, very well,” Potten said. “This stops some of that.”

Potten himself became mayor of Winnipeg Beach after another controversial exit. In 2024, then-mayor Pam Jackson stepped down after she was denied a medical leave of absence.

“So, after much consideration and with very deep sadness, I hereby submit my resignation as mayor,” Jackson said at the time in 2024.

Winnipeg Beach is set to elect a new mayor and council on July 24. Potten says he intends to run for mayor again.

“I ran an easy council—no fighting, no arguing. Everybody do the job, vote the way you want,” he said.

CTV News reached out to Doug Jarvis for comment and is awaiting a response.