ATHABASCA – Athabasca County will not be moving forward with an investigation into a complaint brought forward by Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) despite impassioned protests from certain councillors.
“The AVPS issue has been very divisive, and I hope we as a council can move on,” said Reeve Brian Hall in a March 20 text message.
Councillors voted 6-3 against a motion to request AVPS make the Feb. 12 complaint an official code of conduct complaint for investigation — councillors Joe Gerlach, Tracy Holland, and Gary Cromwell were in favour — and to have AVPS identify the councillor the complaint was about.
Councillors were initially made aware of the issue through a letter sent to all nine county council members from AVPS board chair Candy Nikipelo Feb. 12. The letter, which neither institution made available, was discussed during the Feb. 20 county committee of the whole meeting, and a third-party investigator was hired during the Feb. 29 regular council meeting.
“I just feel nauseous when I think about this, how we’ve dealt with things in the past, how we’ve swept things under the carpet. It all depends who it is — we don’t deal with things in a fair, straight-on manner and I’m really frustrated with it,” said Coun. Joe Gerlach, who was an ardent supporter of a formal investigation throughout the entire process. “We’ve got to start acting responsibly, ethically, and we just aren’t doing it.”
Gerlach didn’t respond to a March 18 request to clarify his comments.
Other councillors felt the issue should have never risen to the level it did — under the county’s Council Code of Conduct bylaw, complaints must include the name of the councillor alleged to have contravened the bylaw, which Aspen View’s letter didn’t do.
“I cannot believe that we are now saying something doesn’t meet the requirements of a formal complaint, and we’re going to request that somebody formalize that complaint,” said Coun. Ashtin Anderson. “I just don’t see that as being a reasonable path forward.”
Hall also voiced his disagreement with the entire process during the meeting, pointing out that the investigation never met the county’s requirements for an investigation in the first place.
“I think it’s time we focus on our strategic planning, our residents in the region, and the issues the residents sent us here to focus on,” said Hall. “This is wildly different than how we’ve handled issues in the past, and this continued squabbling and disruptive behaviour is not why I sought my seat.”
Hall added that the motion to request more information from Aspen View went against the advice of the third-party investigator the county had hired.
Coun. Rob Minns, who had initially voted in favour of the investigation Feb. 29, said everything had run its course.
“We jumped ahead with it, we’ve gotten some information if it can be investigated or not, and it can’t be,” he said. “We’re done, it’s pretty well straightforward. Let’s move on.”
