The mayor of Pitt Meadows, John Becker, has revealed on his Facebook page that a member of his council has quit.

David Murray made the decision after being convicted of sexual assault in connection with an incident with a young person in 1992.

Murray, a former federal NDP candidate, denied his guilt and there's no word on whether he'll appeal the ruling, which came down last week.

Becker has previously called Murray a "friend".

"As promised, I am writing to report that today I met with David Murray and obtained his resignation from City Council," Becker wrote on Facebook. "There are matters that are required to be addressed by Council in a closed meeting. I will be tasking staff to organize a special closed meeting for Monday, October 30, 2017. I am not going to be releasing any more information on this matter until presenting my report to City Council for direction."

In a previous post on Saturday (October 28), Becker wrote the following:

"What follows is the timeline I have been working with over the last two days:

"1. It was public knowledge that Councillor Murray’s trial was ending Wednesday, October 25, 2017. There was no guarantee that a judge’s decision would be immediately forthcoming as the judge could have reserved the decision to another day to give her time to consider the evidence. I asked Councillor Murray to telephone me at the end of the trial with the decision, if any.

"2. Early Wednesday afternoon I received a telephone call from Councillor Murray from court. He had told me that he had been convicted of the charge of sexual assault. I could tell that he was in a state of shock. I told Councillor Murray that he and I needed to get together to discuss the situation as soon as possible and that I would call him shortly to set up that time. He agreed and then said he had to hang up and go speak to his lawyer.

"3. Shortly thereafter, I made arrangements to meet with senior staff that afternoon at city hall. In the intervening few hours I asked for the staff to confirm with the city lawyer that my understanding that city council had no legal authority to suspend Councillor Murray or remove him from office was in fact the law.

"4. I met with senior staff later that afternoon. I provided them with my confirmation that I would be contacting Councillor Murray early the next day to arrange an in-person meeting. It was the unanimous view of myself and senior staff that Councillor Murray needed to resign forthwith. The question was how I was going to manage the conversation with Councillor Murray in a way that provided some element of due process but nonetheless brought us to that result through his agreement. In the presence of senior staff, I responded to two media requests for telephone interviews. I wanted to make sure that my conversation was independently confirmed for reasons I will touch on below.

"5. Early Thursday morning I telephoned Councillor Murray to arrange our meeting. I wanted to have the meeting as quickly as possible but required him to agree. We agreed that we would meet Sunday. Councillor Murray said that he needed to speak with his lawyer and that he had a lot of thinking to do. I acknowledged his statement but reiterated that we had to meet as quickly as possible. According to the newspaper report published that same day at 11:30am, Councillor Murray stated that he was “still to trying to get my head around everything” and that he had not decided to step down.

"6. Subsequently I confirmed with all of my council colleagues and senior staff that I would be meeting with Councillor Murray on Sunday. I made it clear to all of them that I would be seeking his resignation.

"7. After my Sunday meeting with Councillor Murray, I will firstly report to the other members of council and the CAO. I will then provide a full report to the community here with next steps whatever they may be.

"8. Council operates under rule of law and due process. Unlike individual members of council, when the Mayor speaks it is on behalf of council as a whole and the entire community. When someone moves from councillor to Mayor their voice carries much greater weight, but with that comes much greater responsibility to act only with legislative authority or pursuant and authorizing resolution of council. In this situation I have neither, but have satisfied myself that my position in fact reflects the will of council and properly reflects the will of the community.

"There are two matters which require my specific comment. The first of these is the public statement by Councillor Miyashita: 'Miyashita has accused Becker of allowing his relationship with Murray to "cloud his judgment".' This is completely false and unfortunate.

"Secondly, there have been allegations that I have equated a conviction for sexual assault to other personal issues like a bankruptcy or a messy divorce etc. This is not true and these statements have been taken out of context. This statement was made in the presence of senior staff so that I would have confirmation of what was said and meant. What I said was that City Council had no more legal authority to suspend or dismiss a city councillor for sexual assault charges or any conviction, than other personal matters unrelated to their position as a City Councillor. In no way was I stating or implying a qualitative similarity between the matters. Clearly there is not, and I would never suggest to the contrary.

"I say again that City Council has no legal authority to remove or suspend a councillor in these sorts of circumstances. To do the right thing requires a context of dialogue with the individual involved and a fair but frank discussion of the situation.

"I will be providing a follow up to these posts here on Sunday evening."