A group of seven concerned town and county citizens has decided it will not wait for official bodies to consult the public on major projects in Athabasca.
Instead, they are calling a public meeting of their own on July 3 at the Nancy Appleby Theatre to discuss the new pool, the new secondary school, the old brick school, and the library and archives.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. next Thursday; doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
Lynne MacLean, one of the meeting organizers, said stakeholders in these projects may yet hold a public consultation, but she doesn’t want to wait.
“By the time they say they can have their public meeting … the public will be offered a package tied up with a silver ribbon,” said MacLean, adding that she fears there will be little or no capacity for the public to shape decisions that will affect them.
“There should have been a public meeting ages ago,” she said.
MacLean said she understands the difficulty presented by the new school in particular, where there are several different stakeholders that must agree on how and when to address the public.
However, “I have this misgiving that decisions are being made that are going to profoundly affect me as a taxpayer,” said MacLean.
All the stakeholders in the new school project — Aspen View Public School Division, Athabasca University, Athabasca County council, town council, the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society and the Alice B. Donahue Library and Archives board — will be invited to the public meeting. In addition, MLA Jeff Johnson and the brand-new MP, whoever they may be, will be issued invites, said the organizers.
The meeting will open with the discussion and circulation of a petition calling for a vote by electors of the Town of Athabasca to determine whether or not town council should pass a bylaw that would allow it to borrow $5 million for a new pool.
The petition points out that borrowing $5 million, when coupled with the town’s current debt of $1.7 million, would put the town at more than 50 per cent of its total borrowing limit of $9.6 million.
The petition will be followed by brief presentations by the seven-person meeting committee on each of the four major projects or buildings on the agenda.
After that, there will be open discussion and questions.
Whether or not a pool can be constructed for as little as $10 million and concerns surrounding combining a public library with a school library will be among the issues examined.
Marion Kadikoff, another meeting organizer, said the point of the meeting is not simply to put forward seven people’s concerns, but to hear from a much broader cross-section of the local population — even if that means the organizers find themselves in the minority with their views.
That’s not to say they don’t have strong views to present.
“I feel as if we’re being — it’s more than sidetracked. We’re being cut off at the nose,” said MacLean. “Nowhere am I seeing any fiscal responsibility.”
While she’s in favour of recreational opportunities in town, MacLean said she’s worried that the same amounts of money have not been going towards infrastructure.
“Our councillors think they are reflecting our views,” she said. “Where are the councillors getting their information?”
One of Kadikoff’s chief concerns is the state in which the downtown will be left if many public institutions move up to the multiplex area.
“The wellbeing of the community is going to be totally altered,” she said.
Shirley Stashko, Gina Payzant and Martin Brousseau, as well as former town councillors Colleen Powell and Paula Evans, are other meeting organizers.
“We encourage everyone who has a concern with any or all of these issues to please come out,” said Kadikoff.
“We might get 60 people, and that would be a wonderful turnout,” said MacLean. “I’m raising my expectations that it’s going to be bigger than 60.”
