LSARA has been patiently waiting for our FOIP requests to be addressed. We have also been affording the new council of 2017 (some old some new) and Administration the opportunity to get in the swing of Council.
One thing that we can tell you is that he didn't get it "ALL" right. The article is linked here on our page, but we thought it was important to point out one very critical error that was made in the article. LSARA did not request ALL performance reviews for all County Staff, what we requested was for the managers.
Specifically what was requested was the County Manager Contract with updates, amendments and renewals. Performance reviews on Manager positions, Job Descriptions of all managers and assistants. The only component of this request that was provided was the job descriptions.
There are two requests that were submitted and both are now being managed by Senior Investigators from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
The past council and administration was not very forthcoming with the information we requested that really was just about good governance. It was items such as Geo Technical Reports, and Compaction Reports. All items that should have been readily available. Instead, they hired Farmer and Associates to pat themselves on the back to say what a great job they had done.
One individual placed a comment on our post wherein we provided the names of the successful candidates and named the new Reeve Joe Blakeman and Deputy Reeve Nick Gelych. The comment was that people wanted change and they voted for it. It then went on to compare it to the Election where Alberta saw the swing to NDP and Federally to Liberal. It cautioned us to be careful what we wished for.
We don't think the wish list is too big. This new council has the opportunity to attend some training on the responsibilities of a councilor put on by Municipal Government. This should be mandatory! That way there is never an excuse as the training and information are available. The Municipal Government is a resource for our council and the administration that they need to utilize.
So, we look to the positive and we hope that we have some good years ahead of us with the current council and working with our County. We already know what failure looks like, we are looking forward to success in governance of our County. With that success comes fiscal responsibility, communication to the Ratepayers to name but a few areas. We look forward to receiving timely information and not having to use go between commissions such as the FOIP commissioners office. Realistically, we should never have to put forward a FOIP request. The County belongs to the Ratepayers and we believe that we do our best to speak on behalf of the Ratepayers. Not time to put down our guard or our pencils just yet.
So, we look to the positive and we hope that we have some good years ahead of us with the current council and working with our County. We already know what failure looks like, we are looking forward to success in governance of our County. With that success comes fiscal responsibility, communication to the Ratepayers to name but a few areas. We look forward to receiving timely information and not having to use go between commissions such as the FOIP commissioners office. Realistically, we should never have to put forward a FOIP request. The County belongs to the Ratepayers and we believe that we do our best to speak on behalf of the Ratepayers. Not time to put down our guard or our pencils just yet.
View the Full Mayerthorpe Freelancer Article at this Link:
By Joseph Quigley
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
The Lac Ste. Anne Ratepayer’s Association has sent information requests for review by the provincial information and privacy commissioner after being told by the County it would cost nearly the $16,000 for the association to have all the requests completed (Joseph Quigley | Mayerthorpe Freelancer).
The cost is associated with a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) request the association originally made on June 28, asking for every piece of information relating to the County’s new administrative building. This was to include any letters, emails or other documents shared between County staff and project management. The request also asked for engineering and project reports, as well as the agreement between the County and project management firm.
The Lac Ste. Anne Ratepayer’s Association is a non-profit society concerning itself with the governance of the County. Its president, Chris Yeoman, said the association has requested the fee be waived, adding that the cost is prohibitively expensive for her association. The fee waiver was denied.
“I think what the intent was that if they threw a number at us that was so ridiculously high, that we would just vacate the request,” Yeoman said. She added that her association has instead sent the group’s FOIP requests to the provincial information and privacy commissioner for review.
According to letters from Lac Ste. Anne County provided by LSARA, the County estimated the first part of the request — entailing all information and communications relating to the new building — would encompass 10,300 pages and require 343 hours to prepare those for disclosure. Combined with 34 hours retrieval time, at a $27 per hour rate and $2,575 allotted for printing the pages, the total cost was estimated at $12,772.36.
The remaining portion of the bill, entailing reports and agreements from project management and engineers involved with the new building, would cost a total of $3,207.97.
Stacey Wagner, records manager and FOIP co-ordinator for Lac Ste. Anne County, said the County has no comment on any FOIP requests it has received.
Yeoman said much of the information should have already been readily available, given the County recently had a third party consultant — Russell Farmer and Associates — report on the decision making of County council when it came to the new administrative building.
She further said the group would not have put in a FOIP request for the information had the County agreed to a request from the group asking only for project manager reports, engineering reports and the agreement between the County and project manager.
“That is the end goal we’re looking for. Actually have the information, be able to review it, be able to go back to the ratepayers and say, yes we have an issue or no we don’t,” Yeoman said.
The association also submitted FOIP requests asking for job descriptions and performance reviews for all County staff, as well as contract information from the County Manager. Yeoman said job descriptions were provided but performance review information was denied, with the County citing privacy clauses within the FOIP act.
However, Yeoman said the society remains optimistic about the situation despite the denials, due to the new council recently elected within Lac Ste. Anne County.
“There appears to be a willingness with the current council to work with us. Will we be at a point where we can abandon these requests? Maybe we can. Maybe the information will be forthcoming. That is the hope,” Yeoman said.
We encourage you to follow us on Facebook, follow our blog and please, join our group. $10 each or $20 per family is a few cups of coffee a year. It helps us to be able to host our meetings, postage, posters, FOIP requests etc.
Email us with your concerns and we can see what we can do to assist.
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