An Alix resident told council the village should wait to hire a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) because of residents’ petitions submitted to municipal affairs.
“It would seem prudent to either suspend hiring of the CAO position to a later date, or make sure the candidate for CAO is aware of what is happening and a contract with said person reflects the uncertainty of their job,” Nancy Cannon said to council at the April 20 regular council meeting.
She added that she, and other residents, don’t want to pay for the costs of breaking a contract if the person is terminated at a later date pending the outcome of the petition.
But Mayor Arlene Nelson addressed the issue saying, “I have not seen a petition, even though I asked politely to see the wording and not the names. But if one or two petitions went to Municipal Affairs, it will be a long process to resolve.
“We have already had prior contact with Municipal Affairs and are following their advice,” added Mayor Nelson. “As mandated by the Municipal Government Act, we are elected to run the village to the best of our ability and we will continue to do so without changing our course of action.”
In a follow-up after the meeting, Mayor Nelson said that after many deliberations council made a motion to offer the CAO position to one of the candidates who applied.
Last month, after about 15 residents attended the village meeting, a petition was started asking Municipal Affairs to launch an inquiry into the village, citing high taxes and how the villages spends tax dollars as reasons.
Malonie Grimard, in an interview Monday, said, “According to Municipal Affairs there are 400 eligible voters in Alix. We have well over 300 signatures for the inquiry petition as well as over 300 on the viability petition.”
Acting CAO Tanya Meston, in her report to council, said Municipal Affair’s April 12 visit to the village went well. Meston said this is something the village can request to have questions answered and gain information.
“It was a good visit,” said Meston.
Ag fair
In council committee reports Coun. Widman said Alix will host the Ag. Society Fair in June with this year’s themes being Farm Safety, Home Safety, Recreational Activities and Workplace.
