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Vol. 18, No. 16, Wednesday, March 15, 2023 www.LamontLeader.com
Andrew votes for municipal inspection Council hopes it will rebuild the community and fix its issues BY JANA SEMENIUK The Village of Andrew council members voted unanimously in favour of requesting a municipal inspection by the Province during their council meeting Mar. 8. Councillor Barry Goertz was absent from the meeting. Mayor Merwin Haight explained that he accompanied Deputy Mayor Tammy Pickett and Councillor Evan Genung to a meeting with Rebecca Schultz, Minister of Municipal Affairs on Mar. 1 to discuss various problems facing the council. “With everything that's gone on in this village, and emails and items that have been brought to the ministry, this is one of the topics that was discussed in our meeting with the minister,” said Haight during the council meeting. “Given the situation we're in in this village I believe that it is a good solution. It's going to be a step in the right direction. We believe that this municipal inspection will help provide a well managed collaborative and accountable local government to the people in the village of Andrew.” Alex Puddifant, Chief of Staff for the Office of the Minister of Municipal Affairs said they have received a few complaints regarding the Village of Andrew over the past year. “Since May 2022, Municipal Affairs has been aware of some questions and concerns from local residents about the Village of Andrew,” he said by email. “Most calls to the government have been about administrative process. Fewer than 10 have involved concerns from citizens.” In 2015, former Andrew Chief Administrative Officer Sheila Lupul (then a resident) organized a petition to have the Village go through a municipal inspection after she claimed to have witnessed breaches of conduct, protocol and improper actions of council. Scott Johnson from the office of Municipal Affairs, explained what happened to the petition.
“Alberta Municipal Affairs received a petition in 2015 requesting an inquiry under Section 572(1) of the Municipal Government Act for the Village of Andrew,” he said by email. “However, due to insufficient valid signatures on the petition, it was deemed invalid and no inspection was undertaken. “ Lupul was terminated from the position of Andrew Chief Administrative Officer this past May after 10 weeks of employment. In addition to concerns and inquiries to the office of Municipal Affairs, calls for the village council to step down
have arisen several times over the past year by way of social media commenting as well as signs posted around the village. Deputy Mayor Pickett said she supports the council’s decision to vote for a municipal inspection. “They're (Municipal Affairs) not doing this to break communities they're doing it to put us in a place of good governance, is basically how they stated it,” she said. “So they come in, they help out, they give (us) direction as to what to do, how to do it, and how to get there. With the mess of (our)
100 YEARS
Lamont Town Mayor Kirk Perrin (L) stands with Lamont Health Care Centre Board Chair Kent Harrold and Lamont Town Councillor Linda Sieker with a plaque presented to the LHCC by the Town in recognition of 100 years of continuous accreditation. Photo: Jana Semeniuk STORY ON PAGE 2
financials, and everything in our bylaws right now, we just felt that it was a good opportunity to take up.” Mayor Haight said a large number of bylaws on the record are outdated and he isn’t sure if some of them are legal. “For example, one of our bylaws, fighting in public places. This bylaw is 24 years old, it's outdated,” he said. “In the last meeting, I brought up how (the) meeting procedure bylaw, was amended to allow open forum, and then the following month, they rescinded it entirely. That Bylaw is yet to be determined if it's legal. But it's not publicly posted on our website, even many of our bylaws, older ones, are not available to the public. Some of them haven't been even available to council members.” Chief Administrative Officer Tim Melnyk said he has also had trouble balancing the Village’s financials due to previous improper record keeping. “I've been keeping you informed on all the doctored or well-presented paperwork that has been given, audits that have passed that I don't know how,” he said. “From Jan. to Dec. and I've been going through them to make sure that everything is good and we cannot balance our books.” While a date has not yet been set for the inspection, Haight said the process could take between six and eighteen months. Meanwhile, Councillor Genung agreed that the inspection would put the council on a positive course. “Maybe we're at the bottom (and) a municipal inspection is going to be a positive step in the right direction. We're going to rebuild this community to fix the issues we have here and hopefully turn around some of the residents that dislike us for whatever reason” The next village council meeting will be Mar. 22 at 7 p.m