You’d have to be blind not to see the division on Westlock County council — it’s a gap that continues to grow weekly.
And for ratepayers who are funding this seven-ring circus, it’s time to call the question on the effectiveness of the entire bunch.
It appears the division, combined with a lack of leadership, has finally caught up with the municipality as county councillors learned last week they’ll be on the hunt for a new CAO yet again.
It will mark the fourth CAO since the current crew took office in 2013 and the fifth if interim CAO Rick McDonald’s 2014 stint is to be counted.
It’s pretty apparent that something is wrong at Westlock County; a municipality doesn’t go through four CAOs in less than three years. Just for comparison, the town has had five CAOs since the turn of the century and one of those was Darrell Garceau, who was CAO twice.
Granted, it’s a significant promotion for Duane Coleman and his new position with Leduc County comes with a $60,000 bump in pay.
But if life at Westlock County was so rosy there wouldn’t be a reason to look for a new job, would there?
Coleman’s resignation comes in the wake of a slew of bad press, including a kooky lease deal concocted by former CAO Peter Kelly, an April assault in council chambers and an attempt to remove Bud Massey as reeve.
Oh, and let’s not forget Jim Wiese who resigned from council in December saying at the time he didn’t want to be associated with what council was doing.
If this isn’t rock bottom, we’d hate to see it.
We can ask the tough questions and spill bucket loads of ink trying to answer the five Ws, but beyond that we can’t remove politicians from office, or demand that Municipal Affairs launch an investigation. That’s up to you.
So, we have a council-chamber brawl, an ill-fated land deal that may cost taxpayers $200,000, a revolving door of CAOs … do you think that’s acceptable governance?
In late 2014, former reeve Ken Mead started a petition for Municipal Affairs to conduct a review of the county. That petition fell 600 signatures short of garnering the required 1,500, but if people thought a review was warranted then, certainly one is needed now.
This is your call to action.
