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Village operations "cause for concern"

Alberta Municipal Affairs has expressed concerns about the operations of local government in the Village of Longview, but it won’t make any decisions until after the October municipal election.

Alberta Municipal Affairs has expressed concerns about the operations of local government in the Village of Longview, but it won’t make any decisions until after the October municipal election.

The Province isn’t revealing any details from a preliminary review of the village’s operations done this spring. Municipal Affairs conducted the review to identify and better understand the concerns and issues that led almost half of the village’s voting population to signing a petition seeking a provincial review in December.

The petition, signed by 100 residents, sought a review of the village’s operations after Longview council fired its chief administrative officer Vicky McGonigle in November.

The preliminary review consisted of interviews with council, municipal staff and petitioner representatives and identified areas of concern, according to a letter by Minister of Municipal Affairs Shaye Anderson. The Province has not issued a formal report.

“The review found that there may be concerns with regard to council functions,” wrote Municipal Affairs chief of staff Keith McLaughlin in an email, adding council roles are to follow proper procedures in conducting business as set out by the Municipal Government Act. “As the minister has deferred his decision on whether to initiate an inspection until after the October municipal elections, it would be premature to detail those findings.”

McLaughlin said Anderson, who was on holidays and unable to comment, will decide after the election whether or not to appoint an inspector to carry out an inspection of the Village or if other actions or supports are needed to address the petitioners’ concerns.

Rick Smith, who signed the petition, called the minister’s approach “fair and very thorough.”

“I know they did a number of interviews within the community both of council members and staff, and of people who had presented the petition,” he said. “They obviously are satisfied that there are areas of concern, as they said in the letter. They acknowledged there was some concerns with respect to council and some of their processes they were doing.”

Smith said he’s pleased Municipal Affairs acknowledged the petition has merit.

“Since it was submitted, things have been very quiet in the community,” he said. “There’s the sense of something positive being done and we hope it’s a positive outcome for everybody that’s involved, whether they’re a petitioner or not.”

McGonigle, the Village’s former chief administrative officer, is also pleased the petition was taken seriously and hopes to see a change.

The Longview resident said while her office environment was comfortable, the difficulties in her job were external and she felt council wasn’t functioning properly at the end of her term.

“I’m not sure a new council is going to solve this,” she said. “There are a small number of residents who are the squeaky wheel and if they will accept the fact that a new council is coming in and is left to do their work that should improve things for the village. If it carries on as in the past I don’t think things will change.”

When asked about the minister’s letter, Longview Coun. Carole MacLeod said she doesn’t have much to say. Mayor Kathie Wight was on holidays and unavailable for comment.

“He’s going to defer his decision after the outcome of the October election, so I think we should just wait for then,” said MacLeod.

MacLeod said she had no comment about Anderson’s statement that the preliminary review “identified matters that are cause for concern, particularly with respect to the functions of council.”

“I’m speaking for myself, and obviously for Kathie seeing as she passed this on to me, I would say no comment to that because I don’t know what else to say,” she said. “Cause for concern? Who knows.”

In a previous interview, Wight said she didn’t see a need for a review of the Village operations.

“I haven’t really noticed any incidents that would require an audit, but it wouldn’t hurt anything either,” she said. “If that’s what they feel we should do, well fine. Council has nothing to hide.”

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