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Council considering comms policy

Elected officials request guidance in how to deal with correspondence from voter

ATHABASCA – The Town of Athabasca will begin working on a policy to help guide elected officials in their dealings with the public, especially as it refers to correspondence in the form of letters or e-mails addressed to particular councillors. 

Coun. Dave Pacholok brought the item forward for discussion at town council’s April 19 regular meeting, saying he was concerned there wasn’t a firm policy in place to help navigate those discussions, which could lead to unforeseen issues. 

“I'm concerned about when we get a letter from the public, and even though it's addressed to us all or even individually, whether we should be taking this letter back to council, or the administration, or the mayor,” he said. “Sometimes it's difficult to respond because you might be in a no-win situation, so I'm just curious if we should be putting together a policy in order to learn how to respond or give us some guidance in response to letters from the public.” 

Coun. Ida Edwards said she is very aware of this and will preface such a discussion with the caveat that she is one member of a larger group. She gave the example of the scores of letters that came into the Multiplex society during COVID restrictions. 

“It's hard not to respond to the emotion that comes up from that but it's also important to follow policies and procedures,” she said, adding she doesn’t know if there’s an official procedure. 

Coun. Sara Graling said it was important to frame responses as personal opinions so there are no misunderstandings that what a councillor is saying is being said on behalf of council. 

“I don't disagree with having a council policy in how we address things but also, we shouldn't necessarily be muzzled from communicating — that's a pretty critical part of engagement and I think that we should continue to facilitate that,” she said. 

Mayor Rob Balay said he agreed with Graling in that respect. 

“We don't want to muzzle anyone. We want to talk to our ratepayers. We just have to be careful on how we respond. And if it's something that needs to go back to council, say you'll be more than happy to take this to council and get back to you,” he said. 

Coun. Loretta Prosser said she would also like to see some examples from other municipalities for comparison. 

A motion to instruct administration to investigate and bring back suggestions to a future council meeting passed unanimously. 

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