After getting some harsh feedback from the public after voicing his feelings about what he sees as some complacent workers in the 200 employee workforce within the municipality, a Lac La Biche County councillor is standing by his words.
Lac La Biche County Councilor John Nowak has been under public scrutiny for more than a week now due to controversial comments he made at the Nov. 22 County Council meeting. After it was reported that Nowak suggested the municipality use the threat of dismissals to motivate complacent county staff, community feedback has been mixed but largely negatively.
Nowak defends his stance in response to the heavy criticism.
“When I talked about those things I didn’ t get into specifics on people or anything like that, I spoke about an issue,” said Nowak. “I spoke very passionately about the issue, I don’ t recant anything I said, I still believe strongly that we have too much complacency within this organization. Things aren’ t being done like they should be, the details are being missed and we need to do a better job.”
Nowak’ s choice of words - including a desire to “instill fear” into the workforce - were viewed as harsh and angry by some, and he has been branded a bully and accused of intimidation and even harassment by others, including the Regional Vice-President of the Alberta Union Provincial Employees, Mike Dempsey.
“Did I speak harshly? Yes I spoke harshly,” Nowak told the POST last week after being unavailable for comment in time for the POST’ s newspaper story last week.. “A lot of the times when I speak, I speak passionately. I use certain words to elicit emotion from people, especially the people in the room I’ m speaking to.”
In a comments section on the POST’ s Facebook page for the original story, Nowak has received criticism directed at his own job performance and even his personal life. While he said he is not surprised by the feedback - saying it is one of the things the community is good for - he is surprised and disappointed by some of the comments that are more personal attacks. Through it all, he says the controversy has brought to light an issue he felt has gone unacknowledged for too long now.
“I’ m disappointed with some of the comments. Am I surprised? Well a couple of them surprised me actually, but for the most part I’ m not surprised and I’ m glad people are actually talking about the issue, and I wish they would continue to talk about the issue and not just my perspective.”
Nowak claimed the issue has been discussed in the past, including in public meetings but it has always been “quiet” which he said does not work. He felt it was time to “blow the lid off of it” and tell it how it is.
“This is not me leading through fear,” he said. “This is me saying, in the real world, no matter where you work, if you don’ t do your job you should be fearful of losing your job. And those who are doing their job should never have to worry about that.”
Nowak said not all feedback has been negative having received direct Facebook messages, texts, phone calls from people agreeing with him, some residents even approaching him in person on the street. Those highly critical of him on Facebook meanwhile, have not approached him directly.
“My time is better spent when people come to me directly when they have a concern,” he said, explaining that he thinks many of the same people who are upset with him are also upset with projects that have not been done, or local services that could be provided better.
“Yes we have lots of great people. They’ re working hard, and they’ ve got that great work ethic this community was built on - but ultimately we still have complacency in the workforce. We’ re a wealthy municipality when you get right down to it, we pay very good wages and I myself and a lot of people in this community demand better for the money that we’ re spending.”
Even before his comments sparked the community, Nowak had already said he isn’ t planning on running for re-election. He says the goal of his last term is to see the municipality left in a position where the next council does not have to deal with the things he has had to deal with.
“I’ ve done all this for this municipality because I want this community to be better, I’ m not here to sabotage the community, to break things down, to do any of that,” he said. “Yes I’ m controversial, if we didn’ t have controversy on council it wouldn’ t be a very effective council. We need to be able to talk, and sometimes talk leads to strong words and passion and all those things.”
