Carbon residents have gone back to the Minister of Municipal Affairs with another petition.
The Mail reported in its April 29 edition a petition that was filed by residents of Carbon to remove the CAO Vanessa Van der Meer, was insufficient.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver stated in his correspondence, “The petition submitted requests the removal of the village CAO, an action for which I cannot be petitioned. Municipal CAO appointments, suspensions, and revocations are council responsibilities under the Municipal Government Act, and it would be inappropriate for the Minister of Municipal Affairs to intervene.”
Undeterred, another petition was sent to the Minister. A letter from Assistant Deputy Minister Garry Sandberg stated the Minister’s office received the petitions on April 27, 2022, requesting an inspection of the Village of Carbon.
A Ministerial Order was made appointing Dee Deveau of Municipal Officers to carry out the duties of a chief administrative officer with respect to the petition.
She has 45 days from the date the petition was received to report to the Minister of Municipal Affairs on the sufficiency of the petition.
The petition was submitted by Carbon resident Alanna Cunningham.
The Mail reached out, however, she refused to make a comment.

The Alberta government has reinforced its commitment to the Alberta Innovation Network to support start-up businesses.
The province announced it will invest $18.7 million over the next three years in the eight regional innovation networks (RIN) to foster and support high-potential startups and entrepreneurs, help diversify the economy and create jobs.
“Alberta has some of the most ambitious and industrious entrepreneurs anywhere. We want to ensure they can get connected with regional innovation networks where they can draw on world-renowned business and technical experts to accelerate the growth of their businesses, diversify the economy and create jobs,” said Doug Schweitzer, Minister of Jobs, Economy, and Innovation.
Established in 2008 the Alberta Innovation Network has helped 7,000 innovators, entrepreneurs, and companies, leading to 354 new innovations to date, states a press release. Originally beginning with three RIN, they now have eight.
While these RINs have no geographical boundaries, the closest one to serve the Drumheller region is the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network. It was granted $1,638,000.
“We are trying very hard as regional Innovation networks to work as a cohesive system,” said Alicia Cafferata, co-chair of the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network and applied research specialist at Red Deer Polytechnique. “What we do is help technology and knowledge-based companies move through their innovation and business cycle. A lot of what the Central Alberta Region on Innovation does is really support the early-stage entrepreneurship education. Because we have two highly connected post-secondary education institutes, Red Deer Polytechnique and Olds College, we work a lot on also advancing the technology through the technology readiness levels.”
She said Olds College has resources to support agriculture-focused innovation, while Red Deer Polytechnique can support manufacturing and energy innovation.
She notes Alberta Innovate does not provide funds, but rather helps to connect to other organizations or institutions for support.
“It is about networking and training and access to resources,” she said.
For more information go to www.ca-rin-ca