While discussion abounds among Westlock County residents who are critical of the current council and administration, at least one group stands in support.
At the Nov. 12 council meeting, a delegation of six county ratepayers brought a message of support to council and CAO Peter Kelly after council passed a motion allowing them to speak.
Howard Ringstad spoke on behalf of the group, which included Wayne Forbes, Alvin Yager, Al McCoy, Ken Massey and Jim Vanderleest.
“A few of us here this morning would like to show our support to you, our elected representatives of the county of Westlock,” Ringstad said.
He said the group understands that with change comes controversy, and that they — along with many other ratepayers — support what council and the new administration is doing. “We feel and we believe the majority of ratepayers are prepared to have this team continue looking after our business and to do your job,” he said. “Thank you for all your efforts and good luck in the future.”
His brief speech was met with applause from councillors.
Following the meeting, Ringstad explained that they day before the meeting they were discussing the situation at Westlock County — specifically the petition being circulated by former reeve Ken Mead calling for an inquiry from Alberta Municipal Affairs — and wanted to show their support for council.
“It appears like now it’s maybe time to wake up the bear,” he said. “We’re worried about our councillors and we’re worried about our CAO. Many of us think they’re doing a good job and we don’t want them to lose heart.”
Ringstad added he had hoped Mead would be in attendance at the meeting, as they hoped to get the message across that he does not speak for all ratepayers.
“Only one year ago we elected these people in a democratic country in a democratic fashion,” he said. “I think maybe it’s time that we turn it over to them and let them do it. This isn’t a dictatorship.”
Concern with the current council has stemmed from the controversial decision to hire former Halifax mayor Peter Kelly as CAO, and subsequently from his decision to offer a severance package to all county employees — a decision the employees’ union has said violates the collective agreement. That complaint is working its way through the quasi-judicial Labour Relations Board process.
Reeve Bud Massey noted at the meeting that while there has been some discussion about implementing a policy that would allow members of the public to briefly speak at council meetings without a prior appointment, that policy has yet to be implemented. Considering they made an exception in this case, he said it would be prudent to make the change soon.
“We were going to start this policy (in January), but I believe we should start it now because we should have a consistent approach and actually implement that policy,” he said.
Council directed admin to draft a policy to change and bring it back to the Nov. 25 meeting.
