ATHABASCA – An Athabasca County councillor who’s previously been compelled to issue a public apology and do workplace behaviour training in the last year was named following an investigation into an unknown incident and no formal action will take place.
After an in-camera session at their May 23 meeting, councillors unanimously voted to receive interim CAO Pat Vincent’s report as information on an event that had been brought to their attention involving Division 6 Coun. Gary Cromwell — Coun. Ashtin Anderson had amended the motion to include “and that no formal sanctions take place against Coun. Cromwell.”
Cromwell was contacted by the Athabasca Advocate May 31, but refused to comment.
Although reeve Brian Hall was unable to comment on the matter due to the closed-door nature of the topic as the discussion is covered under Section 23(1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP), he was able to say May 24 that the motion spoke for itself, and “council values transparency and has made policy changes to improve communication with residents and increase accountability.” In a follow-up interview May 30, Hall was able to confirm, “ … an event occurred that was drawn to council’s attention and was addressed as reported in the minutes.” He also added that the motion following the closed-door session reflected the discussions they had.
According to Hall, while county administration didn’t conduct the investigation, they are able to bring forward things to council’s attention, which is able to handle it in various manners as laid out by the municipality’s code of conduct bylaw.
Following a July 2022 report from Sage Analytics, which focused on Cromwell’s time as the chief of the Wandering River Fire Department, he was prohibited from being involved in “any and all” operations associated with any of the Athabasca County Fire Departments.
When the report was finally made public in August 2022, Cromwell was compelled to issue a formal verbal apology and complete training on workplace violence, discrimination, and harassment, and provide proof of completion by Dec. 31, 2022.
While there were some questions about whether the training was completed on time at the Jan. 9, 2023, council meeting, councillors voted 5-4 in favour to accept the training and apology.
