The Town of Athabascaís council has degraded to a point where there is a total lack of respect, decorum and maturity. It has become a nest of vipers more concerned with infighting and maintaining lines in the sand than working for the people it represents.
Take this whole fiasco with the complaints from town employees.
Last week, the Advocate called the department of Municipal Affairs and asked what advice they would have given town council. A representative told us that labour relations with respect to the CAO are not within the ministryís scope.
ìTalk to your HR people or your legal counsel.î
Any member of council could have phoned and received this information.
Human resources and legal services are there to protect all parties ñ the employer and all employees. Just because a complaint is filed does not mean it is true, but it needs to be addressed and should be done privately.
But council failed. They voted, instead, to do nothing.
Last week, just outside the doors of the town office as a council meeting finished and members of the public were standing nearby, Coun. Joanne Peckham was loudly swearing at Coun. Tim Verhaeghe.
Later, he was at his office with Mayor Roger Morrill and Coun. Steve Schafer, while Councillors Nichole Adams, Tanu Evans and Peckham stood outside chambers talking about what happened at the council meeting.
There are obvious divides.
Municipal Affairs needs to get in here and deal with town council.
Now.
The residents have dealt with this mess long enough.
Remember when the Ministry conducted a Municipal Corporate Review for the town in 2013?
Perhaps if it had been taken more seriously ñ with respect to policy and bylaw updates, decorum in council chambers and councillors working together collaboratively ñ we would not be here today.
