Days before he resigned, Mayor Aurel Langevin asked Alberta Municipal Affairs to review Lac La Biche County operations. At the same time, a former consultant who was part of the 2005 dismissal of the Town of Lac La Biche Council says residents should not be afraid to ask questions if they have concerns about their local governance.
Just prior to his sudden resignation as Mayor of Lac La Biche County, Aurel Langevin attempted to initiate a municipal investigation of his own council.
Langevin, who officially resigned from council on Tuesday, May 6 told the Lac La Biche POST that his decision to leave was finalized a few days before when the deputy minister of Alberta Municipal Affairs said his request alone could not start a municipal review.
“They said I needed a motion from council for the minister to consider it,” said Langevin, explaining that since one of his reasons for leaving his seat were a number of “ideological differences” with most of the current council, he didn’ t think he could get approval for such a motion.
“I just wanted to have a corporate review to fix us, to be more of a functional council,” said Langevin who include a list of concern areas in his resignation letter to the community and council.
Some of those concerns included a belief that some important decisions of council were being made outside the council chambers in private meetings, that the relationship between the council and administration was not one of respect, and that council members were dabbling too much with the day-to-day operations of the municipality.
Officials with the department of Municipal Affairs confirm that the mayor contacted their office while he was still on council to request a review. They also say that in accordance with the Municipal Government Act, the minister may only act on a request for a review if it is made by the council as a whole. The only other time a minister may initiate a review is if a petition signed by 20 per cent of the population is presented to the office.
If the community shares the sames concerns as the outgoing mayor, a well-known municipal consultant thinks a petition is a valid option.
George Cuff is the owner of a province-wide consulting firm specializing in training and consultation for public sector workplaces. Cuff, who is also the author of the books, Making a Difference, Cuff's Guide for Municipal Leaders, volumes one, two and three, is familiar with the political workings of the Lac La Biche area.
In 2005, Cuff was hired by the provincial government to inspect the operations of the Town of Lac La Biche. His findings lead to the eventual dismissal of the town council and the chief administrator of the municipality.
When contacted by the Lac La Biche POST last week and told that Langevin's departure is the latest in a string of unexpected exits that have included two chief administrative officers, several managers and the two mayors, Cuff said the recent changes on the local political scene indicate more serious problems.
"That to me would be unusual. To me, it signals that there are issues that need to be explained and looked into," he said, going further to speculate that perhaps the current council is losing sight of its role as a governing body. "Sometimes a group can get so committed to managing that they forget they are supposed to be governing."
By getting too involved in the day-to-day operations of the municipality, a council can get "too much into the weeds," he explained.
The general public, the taxpayers, on the other hand, he continued, need to get more involved in the political process.
"I think the public should be holding the council to account ... the public deserves good leadership and people that can act in a mature fashion," he said, explaining that a ratepayer-driven petition may be the only way to get their message across that questions need to be answered.
If there are problems within the governance of the community, Cuff said it's not a unique instance. "I find it's happening more and more. It's absolutely systemic," he said, explaining that his firm is currently conducting a review in the Peace River, and just finished work at a seminar on the same topic. Current interim Lac La Biche Mayor Robert Richard admits there may be some issues with this council - as there are with any group where varied opinions and backgrounds come together. He did agree that the second resignation of a mayor in two years, paired with the departure of two CAOs in a similar time frame could present "poor optics", but he's confident the current council and administration will persevere. “With strong people on Council and in administration, I am confident in our ability to continue to provide the high level of municipal service residents are accustomed to,” said Richard in a media statement sent the day Langevin resigned. A by-election will be held to fill the now-vacant mayor's seat. The date of the by-election has yet to be determined. According to Sections 571 and 572 of the Municipal Government Act, a Minister can call for an inspection of a municipality's operations or an inquiry. The inquiry can be initiated if the minister receives a petition signed by at least 20 per cent of the municipality's population. The 2013 municipal election saw Lac La Biche County with a population of more than 12,000, meaning an eligible petition would need more than 2,400 names.
