On Oct. 17, the Town of Athabasca received a letter from Alberta Municipal Affairs, which stated that there would be a municipal inspection into the town – its administration, finances, council.
That’s a little under eight months, from the time the first signatures were on the petition to the call by the minister to conduct the inspection. It’s about six months after the petition was given to the province.
Though the decision came a later than initially expected, as one councillor said, the call for an inspection does indeed validate the concerns of citizens. For months, some residents have been half-joking that town council meetings are “the thing to do” on a Tuesday evening. But there are a determined few people who have been turning out to meetings on a regular basis, clarifying comments of their peers and even critiquing the words within these pages. We thank those citizens for giving up their time to essentially be stewards of democracy.
Municipalities across the province have an election coming up. There are many major projects occurring in town that effect the entire region, and it would be beneficial for everyone in the area if the town’s council functioned well. In order for Athabascans to cast an informed ballot next year to build that council, it is important to know what is going on behind the scenes.
The town needs to get its affairs in order to give the next set of officials a fresh start. Over the past five years, the town has had three CAOs and two different interim CAOs. The province conducted a municipal corporate review of the town in 2012-13, and many of the recommendations do not appear to be in place, such as those regarding in-camera items, communication through the chair of a meeting and currency of bylaws and policies. This inspection should give the next council an idea of what their mandate will have to be.
It is unfortunate that the town’s affairs have gotten to a point where the inspection has to be done. But it is important that it is done. This municipality does not have the resources to conduct internal inquiries of this kind. This mechanism of small government accountability is a good one, we hope to see it open the doors to this small town’s democracy.
