Far be it for the media to suggest solutions, but the recent public squabble splitting the usually tranquil village of Redwood Meadows is hard to watch dispassionately.
In a town of about 700 voting-age adults, 306 of them met in the town office building at the same time the sitting mayor and council met by Zoom because of safety concerns. Clearly, something has gone awry.
Mayor George Allen was elected by council when then-mayor Ed Perkins resigned in November.
The dissident group (they prefer the term “concerned citizens”) met on Nov. 30 to formulate strategy to oust Allen, name a mayor of their own – Paul Sawler – and present a petition with 300 signatures asking for him to step down.
Former mayor Sawler is the lead spokesman for the dissident group, which is alleging mismanagement of town finances, including, in their view, cost overruns on capital projects.
Allen disputes all those claims and says the dissidents have resorted to bullying and intimidation tactics, including coming to his house and threatening suppliers.
The townsite (a unique designation for Redwood Meadows in Alberta) recently hired legal and public relations experts, a move Sawler called “unconscionable.”
Allen argues Sawler is just trying to distract the community from ongoing issues with an aging water treatment plant that he, Sawler, should have dealt with back when he was mayor.
Who wins?
For now, lawyers are supposedly trying to arrive at a way forward that is amenable to both sides, and residents will pick up that bill. The longer it goes on, the bigger the legal bills become.
Allen has dug in his heels and says he won’t be bullied out of office. He also told Rocky View Weekly last week that he doesn’t recognize the petition because it wasn’t done properly, pointing to wording and letterhead issues – but that if it were done properly, he would abide by it.
Rather than dragging the dispute out and paying lawyers to dissect arcane petition wording and tortuous bylaws in a one-of-a-kind “quasi-municipality,” why not put an end to this, agree to call an election, and abide by those results. Let democracy decide.
Maybe that’s too simple.
