Resident Agrees To Legal Gag Order

A Vernon senior says from now on, he will behave himself when he goes to City Hall.

The City took civil action against 74 year old Art Gourley in June, claiming he had harassed and verbally abused city staff and councilors on numerous occasions.

Gourley has since signed a letter of apology for the comments he made.

“The (City’s) lawyer sent me a letter to sign, to say that I wouldn’t say anything else, and then it will go away, so that’s what I’ve done,” Gourley told Kiss FM.

However, Gourley is still confused about what he did wrong.

“I wanted to say something, but you can’t talk to anybody. I don’t know how you get to say what you want to say, so I’ve written a few letters to the council with different ideas I’ve had, and they’re even saying that’s not nice.”

Gourley, a commercial painter by trade, still has concerns about council’s spending, and plans to run for mayor next year.

“I’m going to run as a slate. I’m going to try and get six other people so we can replace the whole bunch of them. I’m kind of like the Trump idea. I’m 74. He’s 74 (Trump is actually 71). Lots of energy. Let’s clean the swamp out here. That’s what we’ve got here,” says Gourley.

Gourley attended Monday’s council meeting without incident, other than his cell phone going off during the meeting.

The City is not commenting on the case, but the claim says Gourley was making unreasonable demands of staff, and making insulting and abusive comments to councillors.

Photo: Art Gourley outside Vernon City Hall