In my ongoing commitment to governing with openness and transparency, today I’m answering a few questions from residents that we have received at City Hall. To maintain our resident’s privacy, I am not including names.
If you have a question that you would like answered next Saturday, please send it to info@chestermeretoday.com. Our team will review all the questions submitted and then suggest which questions I answer while other questions will be answered by the appropriate departments.
1) There have been comments that residents have many ways to engage with Councilors – whether it be by phone or email. These are options, but the fact remains that the one public forum has been removed. All Councilors ran their campaigns on increasing transparency, ensuring accountability and engaging with residents. The elimination of Question Period from the agenda does not support any of these campaign promises.
As far as I am aware, all Councillors still support their campaign promises. There are numerous channels to engage us. This can be done by Phone, Email or by requesting a meeting. Some of the more vocal and anonymous individuals have even been invited to come to City Hall to discuss their concerns but have declined this invitation. This generally implies that they may have been more interested in having a public audience to sway rather than obtaining any explanations or answers. This is also not in the best interest of our community.
Regarding Question Period during Council Meeting – Council has made a motion to create a policy with procedures for question period. For our analysis we will be reviewing other municipalities policies in Alberta to determine the most appropriate and efficient ways to respond to residents’ questions. Once this is completed, the City will provide our policy to the public.
2)What are you doing, as the leader, to bring council together?
As with any new team, it takes time to learn how to work together with efficiency. Our team generally meets on Tuesdays for council meetings or workshops, we also engage in public consultations and share in community events. It is during this work, we are learning how best to communicate to reach consensus or respect differences.
3) What are the salaries of the CAO and City Directors?
CAO and City Directors salaries are the only city administration salaries that are made public. We will be providing this information to residents in our Audited City of Chestermere Financial Statements at the end of July.
4) What is City Hall’s policy regarding severance packages?
This Council follows the Alberta Labour Code for ALL severances and does not agree with exorbitant severance agreements.
5) What is happening with the Chelsea Field House and did the city have to pay penalties for cancelling contracts made with the previous council?
The previous Council spent approximately $1.3m on design, site preparation and servicing. We expect to be able to use this investment on the development of the site. Though, some areas of the previous project are under review due to some irregularities that have been uncovered and we will be bringing this information forward to the public shortly.
The City did not have to pay additional costs when the contracts were terminated. The statement made by some, that the City was liable for up to $40M, was a lie.
6) Why is the city dissolving CUI?
The truthful and actual dissolving of CUI is important for many reasons – here are the top reasons:
b. The dissolution of CUI, decreases costs of operations, less staff, less accounting work, less back and forth borrowing and movement of money between City and CUI accounts.
c. The oddly created restricted surplus account in CUI, a private company, will be closed, stopping unbudgeted unknown expenditures. As most would know, a restricted surplus account is not allowed in a private company by CRA or its shareholders. Though, due to some irregularities that have been uncovered a review is being completed and we will be bringing this information forward to the public shortly.
d. The City of Chestermere in the past has had a problem with taking on too much debt with CUI. With the CUI being managed by the city, this allows for clear controls and transparency of debt, as per municipal MGA borrowing limits. This is a normal practice in most cities in Alberta.
As mentioned in the council meeting, the City of Chestermere with CUI rolled in following MGA recommended borrowing limits, based on 2020 financial statements, we will continue to have approximately $23,000,000 of borrowing availability. Once 2021 Financial statements are completed, we expect to have a higher amount of availability. The Public hearing for the CUI Dissolution will be July 19, 2022.
7) Why and how was Kim Wallace promoted to Chief of Staff?
Looking back, we feel very fortunate that City Director Jill Steeves hired Kim Wallace’s communication company, Oliver & Spence Creative, to help transform the City’s branding, presentation, communications, and website into something Chestermere badly needed, and would propel us into the future. Jill made the decision, after reviewing 3 similar companies, and decided to hire Oliver & Spence Creative because Jill had worked on several projects in the past with Oliver & Spence and was confident in their expertise and competence.
During this time Jill identified the positive effect Kim was having on interactions with staff. Kim had started her work by engaging with staff to gain an understanding of the corporate culture. It was during this engagement with our staff we realized the influence Kim had in identifying and filling the inner company communication gaps between departments, staff, City directors and the council.
It was recognized early that an investment into internal communications, relationships and team building would be beneficial for City staff. Chief of Staff and Acting City Director titles for Kim were brought forward after Jill Steeves had resigned, from City Director Mark. Which was a great move.
Kim is officially the Acting City Director of Corporate Services while we are searching for our permanent City Director. Oliver & Spence Creative, will continue the work they were initially hired to complete.
Moving forward, you can expect questions answered every Saturday because I feel its important to keep the communication channel open.
I hope I have answered a few of the controversial questions that residents have been discussing over their kitchen tables this week. I like answering your questions as I prefer providing the truth to our community rather than letting the rumour mill run rampant.
