With the new year now well underway, we're beginning to settle into what's proving to be another busy year for the town. We've had strong attendance at recent council meetings, which has been great to see.
With the new year now well underway, we're beginning to settle into what's proving to be another busy year for the town.
We've had strong attendance at recent council meetings, which has been great to see. In municipal government it usually takes some discontent to generate the level of engagement we've seen recently, but as elected officials, we'll never question the right of citizens to ask questions.
On that note, we did recently issue a number of answers to questions posed by a citizen delegation late last year, mainly pertaining to the dismissal of the town's fire chief in September.
There were some questions we couldn't answer, as they pertained to personal files that can't be released. Some might take this as a sign we're hiding something, but — quite simply put — the privacy of employment records is a right afforded to both employer and employee. It's one we honour diligently.
We also heard concerns with the conduct of our CAO, Helen Dietz, and the working relationship she holds with council — particularly when it comes to hiring and dismissing staff. In response to this, I can assure that council has been fully informed and apprised of any dismissals carried out by the CAO. The reasoning and information that the CAO has shared with us have always justified the end result.
With regards to the dismissal of the fire chief in particular, the CAO took — and continues to take — the brunt of the criticism that's ensued. This is grossly unfair.
The CAO, in carrying out the duties assigned to her, has been unjustly maligned by falsehoods, innuendos and character assassination. Helen Dietz is a greatly respected professional administrator, whose actions and decisions are always made with the full disclosure and approval of town council.
Helen guides and mentors council to arrive at well-informed decisions for the betterment of the community.
She's also a firm manager that rightfully demands from her staff an accountable workload. This again is keeping within her assigned duties, which have led her to receiving consistent "exceptional" ratings from town council in annual performance reviews.
In closing, I want to reiterate that the town remains in great shape — from our financial reserves to our major infrastructure. Helen's leadership has played a big part in this.
Rest assured that we'll continue to make decisions that, although sometimes not easy, will always have the town's best interests at heart.
Brian Spiller is the current mayor of Innisfail.
