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Vol. 19, No. 20, Wednesday, April 10, 2024 www.LamontLeader.com
Resident passes out scathing letter of complaints against CAO Councillors denied closed-session discussion until April 17
Bruderheim CAO Phyllis Forsyth was the subject of a six page letter documenting concerns and allegations from town resident Andy Styles. Styles handed the letter to each member of council prior to the April 3 council meeting. Attempts by two councillors to bring the letter into a closed session were denied. By Jana Semeniuk
BY JANA SEMENIUK Bruderheim resident Andy Styles took time just prior to the April 3 Bruderheim town council meeting, to deliver a handout to each council member as they sat down at the council table, and gave one copy to the Lamont Leader. The six-page document contained items Styles said he is concerned about regarding Bruderheim’s Chief Administrative Officer, Phyllis Forsyth, in addition to research he said he has collected from residents and former employees of the Town of Redcliff, where Forsyth was employed for three years.
Styles included the names and emails of Redcliff’s six current council members for information clarification. According to approved meeting minutes for Redcliff, Forsyth was terminated without cause on April 4, 2023 due to a ‘change in leadership being required’. She was hired by the Town of Bruderheim on May 1. Mayor Karl Hauch began the April 3 meeting as usual after receiving the letter, when councillor George Campbell tried to make a motion to go into closed session to discuss the document. “In regards to the handout we just got, I think it’s pertinent that we go into in-camera and have this discussion without our CAO,” Campbell said, but Mayor Karl Hauch would not consider it. “We're going to take that as information and we will look at it at the next meeting Councillor George,” said Hauch. Councillor Campbell asked Hauch if
he intended to hide the letter ‘under the table’. “Nobody’s hiding anything under the table,” said Hauch. “This information just came into our hands and we haven’t even had a chance to read it so we’re not going to entertain it into the agenda for today.” Councillor Arlie Young stated that he would also like to move into a closed session to discuss the letter. “I agree with Councillor George on this. We should take a couple of minutes and look this over, (because) (this is) pretty bad,” he said. “We will,” said Mayor Hauch. “But not right now. It doesn’t have to be done tonight thank you.” Councillor Campbell asked Forsyth to make sure the item was included on the agenda for the next meeting. Bruderheim’s next council meeting is scheduled for April 17 at 7 p.m. online or in person at the town fire hall.
Lamont hoping to attract hawk-eyed gopher hunters Predatory birds wanted to control gophers naturally BY JANA SEMENIUK Visitors to Lamont’s Hillside Park might notice two new wooden perches near the creek in the coming weeks. The perches are a part of Lamont’s new all-natural answer to the gopher over-population problem; attracting birds of prey. According to the Western Producer, gophers mate immediately after hibernation in early spring, with only a short window for attaining a pregnancy. Twenty-three days later, they give
birth with up to eight new babies in a litter. Adult males go back into hibernation in June and females in July with the new generation spotted wreaking havoc by tunnelling through parks and pastures, destroying crops and damaging building foundations. Lamont Interim Chief Administrative Officer Tyler Edworthy said they decided to up their gopher control game this year with the use of predatory birds.
He said it was an idea suggested by staff member Leslie Jans and after a bit of research, Edworthy said they were ready to put the idea into action. “This will be on top of our regular process with the gopher bombs to help control the population,” said Edworthy. “But (with) the hawk perches, hopefully we can attract some predatory birds to assist with that.” Edworthy said the process is as simple as building perches and erecting them in an attractive place. Continued on Page 12
The town of Lamont is hoping to attract birds of prey this year to help manage their over-population of gophers. Photo: Jana Semeniuk