Just over a month after it was started, the petition to get Municipal Affairs to conduct an inquiry into the Town of Athabasca's administration and council has been handed over to the province with 840 signatures.
Just over a month after it was started, the petition to get Municipal Affairs to conduct an inquiry into the Town of Athabasca's administration and council has been handed over to the province with 840 signatures.
Municipal Affairs representative Jerry Ward said the petition was received and is date-stamped as April 6, 2016.
ìThe Minister is appointing a staff member to perform the duties of a CAO (chief administrative officer) to verify the petition as required in the Municipal Government Act, î he said in an email, noting that the CAO does not have administrative power over the municipality and it is ìsimply the title of the person verifying the petition. î
Ward said that person has 30 days from the date of receipt of the petition to tell the minister whether there are enough valid signatures.
ìThe Minister will advise the council and petition representative of the results of the petition verification and what actions, if any, will be taken, î he said. ìThere is no timeline for the Minister to make a decision. î
Former town mayor Lionel Cherniwchan was the powerhouse behind the petition, starting the process with a meeting Feb. 29. About a dozen people attended.
ìI've given too much to this community to see it go the way it's going, î he said at the meeting.
Cherniwchan verified that the affidavits had been done and he handed the petition over to the province on the afternoon of April 5. ;
The petition needs at least 598 names of valid electors from the town -20 per cent of the town's overall official population of 2,990 -in order to be deemed sufficient. Those signatures have to come from members of the electorate who are 18 years of age or older and have lived in the municipality for at least six months.
ìEight hundred and forty names, we had, î he said, noting that there were some last-minute signatures, including one woman who found him walking on the street and asked to put her name on the list. ;
He also stressed that many people went out of their way to sign. He used an example of one grandmother on a Sunday afternoon. At church with her family, she heard of the petition.
ìThey went to church and they were talking about it, and she had her grandson drive her there (to sign it) right after church, î he said. ì(It) really hits the nail on the head. î
UPDATE: In an interview after the initial article was published, Cherniwchan said some signatures were added at the last minute before he took it in, taking the total up from 827 signatures to 840.
