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Sitting in the new, hot seats

Perhaps with Halloween on the calendar just a few weeks after they were elected, councillors wanted no references to the ghosts of councils past.

Perhaps with Halloween on the calendar just a few weeks after they were elected, councillors wanted no references to the ghosts of councils past. So one of the first orders of business for the new Lac La Biche County council wasn’t to examine the number of times the hinges swing open on the well-used ‘staff-only’ doors at the county offices.

Nope. The first order of business was to toss out the well-used chairs only recently occupied by the last council.

Sitting comfortably, new bums on new chairs, the new council was ready to dive right in. And dive they did, right into hot-button topics like the size of the county’s payroll.

To be in office officially for just minutes and to call for a review of municipal staffing levels is brazen. It shows this council really wants to get down to work and wants to know that they’ve got the right people working for the community.

It also shows a little bit of arrogance.

Perhaps have a walk around the office first. Maybe shake hands with an office worker or two. At the very least, introduce yourself.

“Hi, I’m new here. I’ll be the person hiring the $35,000 consulting firm to see if you’ll still have a job on Monday. Nice to meet you.”

This new council, the ones who sit in chairs that still have plastic wrapping caught in the caster wheels, (you know at least one or two of them will take a look) have come out strong. Maybe a little too strong for some, but at least they are showing intent.

Now they must perhaps show a little patience.

It might not be considered ‘good form’ to take a poke at our new council right out of the gates, but this isn’t a poke. A poke is what the old council got when they acted too quickly and bought a suspected drug house as a way to reduce crime in our neighbourhoods.

Everyone poked them for that hair-trigger reaction. Poked all but two of them right out of their well-worn-leather chairs, in fact.




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