A petition signed by Carbon residents to remove the Chief Administrative Officer of the Village has reached the desk of the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
The Mail reported in its February 2 edition Carbon residents Marie Kooiman and Allana Cuningham had been circulating a petition for the Village to remove the CAO Vanessa Van der Meer.
Kooiman tells the Mail, while their initial goal was to present the Village with the petition, they also decided to send it to the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
Ms. Kooinman received a letter in an email dated March 1, from Assistant Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs Gary Sandberg acknowledging the Minister has received the petition, attached to a letter requesting an inspection into the Affairs of the Village of Carbon.
“It looks like they are validating it at this time,” said Kooiman.
The letter outlines when a petition is received, as per the Municipal Government Act, a person is designated to carry out the duties of a chief administrative officer to determine the sufficiency of the petition. A ministerial order was issued to appoint Desiree Kuori of Municipal Affairs as the designated person.
“Ms. Kuori 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 letter states.
If a petition is deemed to be sufficient, the Minister of Municipal Affairs can take action. According to an information package on petitions from the Government of Alberta, the actions requested in a petition directed to the Minister are discretionary and are at the option of the Minister. There is also no timeline for the Minister to make a decision on the action to be taken.
If an inspection takes place, the municipality will have to help cover the costs.
“Municipal Affairs adopted an Inspection Cost Allocation Policy that charges costs for an inspection back to the municipality. The amount charged back is based on the fiscal capacity of the respective local authority.”
