In early December of each year - Quesnel City Council members' each give an Annual Address to their residents' on their activities (I'm told this used to occur in Williams Lake..). This year like in years' past - Mayor Sjostrom and Councillors Cave, Roodenburg, Elliot, Coleman, Brisco and Thapar each gave their speeches
However - Councillor Thapar, unlike his colleagues, went into a 'rant' over misspending at Quesnel City Hall. Read his 'unedited' (I'll explain more in a minute) speech here
In a report presented to Quesnel Council at its' Dec 17th, 2012 meeting - Quesnel City Manager Byron Johnson raised several concerns with Councillor's Thapar speech. According to Mr. Johnson - Quesnel Council's "Executive Committee" consisting of Mayor Sjostrom and Councillors Coleman and Roodenburg directed the City Manager to review the Annual Addresses of Dec 3rd, 2012 to ensure:
commentary contained in Quesnel Council's permanent record (Minutes) is accurate
Mr. Johnson raised several flags in Thapar's Annual Address including:
a) Capital Spending in West Quesnel
b) 4 Water Wells 'beyond their lifespan'
c) Financial Statistics in Councillor Thapar's Annual Address
Read his report and the 'amended' Councillor Thapar address here
Steve's take:
It is rare for a Municipal Council to ask its' most senior civil servant (City Manager/CAO) to review 'political speeches' made by a Mayor or Councillor(s) to ensure they are factually correct. Without the benefit of the Dec 17th Quesnel Council minutes - I would presume that Councillor Thapar voted 'no' to amend his Dec 3rd, 2012 Annual Address
I found this action shocking..... I wonder what the reaction of the people of Quesnel will be when they eventually learn of this....
SBF
1 comment:
Steve, you said "It is rare for a Municipal Council to ask its most senior civil servant (City Manager/CAO) to review 'political speeches' made by a Mayor or Councillor(s) to ensure they are factually correct."
A taxpayer funded staffer being made to review political speeches for factual correctness and then sign off in a public report such as this one, is so far off base that "rare" is an understatement in the extreme. It NEVER happens, and would elsewhere cause a scandal of huge proportions. If Council cannot exercise the fortitude to obtain facts from staff, and then AUTHOR and SIGN their own review of a miscreant member, then they are failing at their job. Seemingly getting someone else to do what they were elected for and what the law assigns as theirs, appears to illustrate the cowardice and guile that seems to have become this council's calling card. Looks like this City Manager is going under the political bus ....he's just been bent over and laid down as a sacrificial speed bump (probably not his last from the looks of things) in what will seemingly be a long, hideous road for him in the run up to the next election.
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