After a discussion about whether councillors should charge for attending the dispute conflict resolution meetings with Municipal Affairs, several Town of Athabasca councillors are considering backing out of the program.
After a discussion about whether councillors should charge for attending the dispute conflict resolution meetings with Municipal Affairs, several Town of Athabasca councillors are considering backing out of the program.
The meeting under contention - which they decided 4 to 3 to charge for - came after the Town of Athabasca's town council decided to work with the Municipal Dispute Resolution Services team from Municipal Affairs in December. The team had been invited to speak to the council in November about the program, and the councillors decided it was something that they desperately needed - they gave themselves a five or six on the ìconflict scale, î the highest level the scale wentavailable on the scale.
And some still believe that.
ìI think if anything our discussion on timesheets this evening lends credence to the fact that we have to sit down and go through dispute resolution, î said Coun. Tanu Tyszka-Evans.
ìBy the time we go through with it, spend a bunch of taxpayer money, we're going to look at the next election, î said Coun. Nichole Adams. ìAnd we won't be sitting here next term. î
The conversation began when the councillors were looking over their monthly time sheets during last Monday's meeting. Several of them had decided to charge for a teleconference interview with Municipal Affairs - something that a few of the others weren't happy about. Several of them had a problem with claiming, as Coun. Shelly Gurba stated, ìlearn(ing) how to play nice in the sand î - which some had done
ìWe should not be charging ratepayers to play nice in the sand, î said Coun. Shelly Gurba. .
ìWe told the ratepayers that this would not cost them any money, î she said.. ìWe said that this was all going to covered by grant; so I'm under the assumption that we should not be claiming it. î
According to Coun. Tanu Tyszka-Evans, however, because there's nothing expressing forbidding claiming the meetings in the policy - even those via teleconference like the one under debate - there shouldn't be a problem.
ìI say we look at the policy, not morality issues and the policy does not state we cannot claim it, î he said. ìArguing about it is a moot subject. It's at our own whim. If we want to claim it, the policy says we can. If we don't, we don't. It's very simple. î
Coun. Timothy Verhaeghe added that he had no problem charging for the meetings, if it's benefiting the town.
ìIf we proceed with this process and it does good for the town, then I don't see why we shouldn't charge, î he said. ìIf all seven of us had gotten together for one or one-and-a half-hours, would you not then be charging for it? î
In the end, though, the councillors voted four to three to approve the time sheets with the inclusion of the teleconference with Municipal Affairs.
The conversation didn't end there, though. In fact, because of Although they did decide to continue charging for the meetings, the conversation didn't end there. In fact because of this this - along with her early misgivings about the program - Adams stated she would have no problem voting to ìscrap î it.
ìI am not convinced that this process is even going to actually achieve the desired outcomes that we're looking for, î she said. ìI've concerns with continuing this now that we know ti'sit's going to cost taxpayers a lot more than was originally promised. î
Verhaeghe agreed: ìI don't know if it's worth going through. I didn't vote in favour of this to begin with. I will participate if it can do some good for the town. î
Although Coun. Steven Shafer reiterated a point from an earlier meeting that the project is really an ìall or none î type of program - if one person decides not to participate, there really isn't a point - they decided to at least move forward with hearing the results from the teleconference - where they were individually interviewed to determine the state of the council.
Afterwards, they'll decide if they're going to continue with the project. First, though, Mayor Roger Morrill says they'll have to do some ìsoul-searching. î
ìIf we're going to do this, I think we have to make sure that we're sincere about this, and my understanding is this is a fair bit of a time commitment, î he said. ìIt's not just for this council; it's trying to set up a framework for the next councils that follow. (Ö) It's not like the magic diet pills. These things actually take longer. î
