Tone-Deaf RMWB Council
Just how bad are you when you give yourself a raise mere WEEKS from trying to lay-off a large amount of workers????
For those that don’t know, last night at the June 11 2024 Council Meeting, a motion was brought forward by Councillor Kendrick Cardinal to change from our existing elected structure of 1 “full-time” dedicated Mayor and 10 “part-time” Councillors; to 1 “full-time” Mayor and 10 “full-time” Councillors. With this move of course comes pay raises that hovers around $120,000/year (plus benefits, etc). As “part-time” elected officials, these individuals currently make around $50,000/year with all the actual entitlements included.
Before I explain the shock and bullshit of it all, I do want to add that talk of “full-time” RMWB Councillors have been an on-again / off-again subject for YEARS. While our Muncipality is rather large, we have a dedicated amount of civil servants (RMWB Staff) that provide the many services us residents benefit from. Do we need full-time councillors to do work that a paid RMWB staff member does? Does it add value?? Maybe…probably…
…but the issue with what happened last night has NOTHING to do with the question of whether or not we need “dedicated” full-time Councilors; but rather it’s HOW this issue was brought forward and voted upon with absolutely ZERO public consultation. On top of that, it was just a month or two ago that the RMWB publicly said they wanted to re-organize their workforce due to budget concerns which would result in a large number of staff losing their jobs. Note that during this process, current councillors did very little to support both staff and union workers who were under threat of job-loss…yet these same people very quickly, very publicly voted to bypass the regular public notification and engagement periods required for a discussion on whether the public wants to have full-time councillors to begin with.
You can see this mess start at the 2:33:18 mark of the Council Meeting. It’s clear that this topic has been discussed amongst the group “privately” for some time and the frustration over it not moving forward is palpable. Regardless, that is no excuse to PURPOSEFULLY ignore proper public process.
I have a feeling the fact that some Council Members believe they are working “full-time” hours as they now run different boards and committees. For example, Councillor Keith McGrath has been elected chair of an interim board for the region’s economic development group after RMWB Council unanimously voted to fire the old board. Obviously this work can be commended for “righting the ship” so to speak; but if a pay raise and job title prestige is what’s required, then why do the job that a private citizen was doing only months ago??
Fort McMurray Today - "McGrath chairing interim FMWBEDT board, Weidlich out as CEO and president"
There is hope…
The wrongs of all this can be righted thanks to the trusty RMWB Procedure Bylaw. As you can see below, it’s possible that a Council Motion can be “Reconsidered” if one of the Councilors who voted FOR the motion brings it back for reconsideration. My hope is that one of the 6 does this before the summer recess so proper public consultation can be considered.
Tonight, I sent the following email to all Council members including the Mayor, as well as copied the Alberta Municpal Affairs Minister (since they seem to think they can run Municipalities now…):
Greetings Mayor and Council
Speaking as a private citizen, I want to express my disgust at the sneaky move during last night’s council meeting.
While the debate and potential benefit of a full-time council can be discussed and considered for a FUTURE council, the way this was pushed through with ZERO public engagement was absolutely appalling. Not only is the move strictly tone-deaf due to the recent attempted lay-offs by the RMWB as a way to save money (who now have to pay more money to full-time staff members who voted themselves a raise); the move also appears backhanded and corrupt due to the way it was purposely put forward to exclude any sort of public input. While I understand many individuals on Council put in many hard hours, you should have been aware of what you were getting into when you decided to seek election. I also understand that things have changed and Councilors are now running organizations and committees on behalf of Council (example being Economic Development Wood Buffalo). While this is commendable in order to “right the ship”, it certainly shouldn’t have been done as a way to gain additional salary or a different full-time job. If it’s moves like this that are causing issues, then perhaps Council should not be assuming roles and responsibilities normally held by private citizens.
Regardless of whether or not this was “legal or illegal” as Councillor McGrath made clear last night; the vote was definitely shady and reeks of corruption and “back door politics” that the public has been whispering about for months now. I know petitions for recall are out in force today along with several formal complaints submitted to Alberta Municipal Affairs…and we’re not even 24hrs out from this decision.
My hope is that some of the Councillors that voted FOR the motion last night reconsiders their mistake and invokes Section 110 of the RMWB Procedure Bylaw that I’ve included below. I ask that one of the six Councilors bring forward a motion to reconsider this classless act and actually seek independent study and public input to properly set-up a structure we all want for the next Council. The public elected you all under the current part-time working conditions, not full-time ones.
I’m not looking for a personal explanation, rationale or any sort of private reasoning. Any reply to me will be shared publicly as any reason for voting the way you did needs to be understood by the entire electorate and not just on a one-on-one basis.
Within 5 minutes of sending this email, I received a call from Councillor Funky Banjoko. She wanted to say that she read my email and wanted to thank me for providing a solution / path forward for Council to consider. When I asked why she voted for the motion in the first place, she said that she knew the motion was coming but then didn’t really give a solid reasoning as to why. It’s clear by the video she was uncomfortable with bypassing the required 2-week notice periods, but I’m honestly still not sure why she voted FOR at the end of the day. I will also update this if I receive any other direct responses to my email.
Here’s hoping she, or any of the other 5 that voted FOR, puts forward a Notice of Reconsideration so this can be done RIGHT!
Please ensure you contact Mayor and Council to voice your thoughts on this issue. If they won’t seek our opinions via the regular process, then we’ll have to give it to them in other ways….and more importantly, we remember this type of stuff if they put themselves up for re-election.
Everyone, we all need to email these people or else they won't do anything.
ken.ball@rmwb.ca
funky.banjoko@rmwb.ca
lance.bussieres@rmwb.ca
shafiq.dogar@rmwb.ca
Allan.Grandison@rmwb.ca
kendrick.cardinal@rmwb.ca
loretta.waquan@rmwb.ca
stu.wigle@rmwb.ca
jane.stroud@rmwb.ca
Also, the Alberta Ombudsman may be able to investigate this should the council not do the right thing: https://www.ombudsman.ab.ca/
In 2018, changes to the Ombudsman Act expanded the Ombudsman’s authority to investigate any administrative decision, recommendation, act, or omission of a municipality. Since then, the primary task of the Alberta Ombudsman has been to instill confidence in Albertans that involving the Ombudsman is a fair and effective way to resolve municipal complaints.
Hold their feet the fire. These people should not be in government.