No municipal inspection for Town of Coaldale

By Tim Kalinowski on May 21, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver says he finds no reason to launch a full municipal inspection of the Town of Coaldale at this time.
“Municipal inspections are extraordinary measures and are not undertaken lightly,” said McIver in a letter to Coaldale residents earlier this week. “While the (preliminary) review noted there were some issues with respect to the governance and operation of the town, the concerns identified were not of sufficient severity to warrant an inspection of the town.”
In terms of those “issues with respect to the governance and operation of the town,” McIver stated he felt they could be addressed in the context of the province’s Municipal Accountability Program (MAP) which he will require the government and administration of the Town of Coaldale to take part in this summer.
Mayor Kim Craig said he was gratified that the Minister’s determination has confirmed what he and his fellow town councillors have been saying all along.
“Me along with the members of council are pleased to receive word the municipal inspection wasn’t warranted,” said Craig. “That’s what we told the Citizens for a Better Coaldale group when they approached us last year when they asked us to do a voluntary municipal inspection; so I think the Minister bears out our initial thoughts on the matter.”
Craig said most of the issues objected to by Citizens for a Better Coaldale, the group which sponsored the petition to have a municipal inspection done, boiled down to differences of opinion over specific decisions taken by council, and should properly have been worked out in the political arena of a local municipal election.
“Last September we said really for everything that was brought forward, except for the allegations of human resources grievances– everything else was basically a matter of a difference of opinion,” Craig confirmed. “We have to assume it was all posturing in an election-style kind of a campaign. And that’s where it belongs.”
Craig acknowledged the directive from the Minister for Town administration and government to take part in the MAP process.
“We are going to work very hard at completing the MAP program the Minister enrolled us in, and we respectfully acknowledge it will be a worthwhile program,” he stated. “Because we are always open to improving ourselves, and we are open to any constructive criticism the department might have. I would also welcome any validation about the existing policies and procedures they feel align with best practices we have tried to adopt.”
While disappointed with the Minister’s decision, Citizens for a Better Coaldale spokesperson Jack Van Rijn said his group’s efforts over the past year have not been in vain.
“Our group has helped open up some transparency for the citizens of Coaldale,” he said. “Since our group was formed and we took the Town to task on many issues that were unknown to the general public, they have done a complete 180 on their communication with the residents. At the end of the day, and I can’t say this enough, we had more people sign the petition (2,300) than the turnout in any municipal election in the history of the Town of Coaldale. That, in itself, sent a strong message to council and administration that, ‘Hey, you better be paying attention to your ratepayers.'”
Van Rijn also welcomed McIver’s directive that the Town should take part in MAP this summer.
“We had hoped there was sufficient information from the province to proceed with the municipal inspection, but because of the pandemic and staffing issues up in Edmonton we kind of had an inkling we may get turned down for the municipal inspection,” he said. “But we are pleased the province has ordered that the Town of Coaldale participate in that Municipal Accountability Program review because they did find some issues that need to be dealt with.”
Van Rijn said he too was looking toward fall elections with some confidence the issues his group has raised will be front and centre during the upcoming debates.
“Council, in this case, will fix itself in the October election,” he stated confidently. “There are several members of council that are not running again … so that will fix itself, but what we are trying to focus on is the way the Town is being run; the administration side. Council needs to understand the CAO works for council, not the other way around where council works for the CAO. And that is one big hurdle the new council gets to deal with when that comes to be after the fall election.
“I am also hoping the new council will look into what has been going on the last four years in the form of an investigation as to where all the money is coming from for these major projects that are going on in the Town of Coaldale.”
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