The Issue: Council Conflict
We Say: Focus On City Issues
It was a season full of dramatic tension SA国际影视传媒� with a touch of emotion from a visibly shaken mayor SA国际影视传媒� but the intriguing melodrama that played out at city hall this fall ended with a whimper this week.
In October, two city councillors filed code of conduct complaints against the mayor, while Mayor Mark Heyck and another city councillor filed a complaint of their own. It all stemmed from a number of undisclosed incidents SA国际影视传媒� and subsequent investigation initiated by the mayor SA国际影视传媒� in which Konge, a developer and construction company owner, had some angry words for city employees, with at least one incident involving a city inspector on one of his job sites.
Yellowknifer observed at the time the remaining councillors appeared to be trying to distance themselves from the mess.
Coun. Niels Konge, in a complaint co-signed by Coun. Steve Payne, complained that Mayor Heyck overstepped his bounds by initiating an investigation against Konge and then taking the results to council.
In return, Heyck announced at a surprise news conference that he was firing back with a complaint of
his own against Konge, co-signed by Coun. Shauna Morgan.
At one point in the debacle, Morgan admitted the situation "sounds like a soap opera."
After the 2018 budget was approved on Monday night, Konge was reprimanded by a special committee
of council for failing to treat city employees "in a courteous manner."
The censure from a conduct review committee comprised of four Yellowknife residents and Couns. Julian
Morse and Linda Bussey, recommended Konge be censured as an "expression of disapproval or condemnation" of his actions.
The censure carries no legal or civil penalties, which seems appropriate considering the overall silliness of the situation and the threat of more mischief that might arise when city councillors sit in judgment of each other.
Konge has acknowledged since the beginning of this fiasco that he had lost his temper while dealing with city staff on more than one occasion. Hopefully, he will take this public rebuking to heart and realize he is not just a barking boss on a construction site chasing away busybodies from city hall.
He is an elected city official. And when he yells at city employees they are justified in perceiving it as an act of intimidation.
The complaint against the mayor was dismissed but surely he has some fence-mending to do with council. He clearly made a mistake by not taking the complaints to council in the first place.
The mayor needs council to approve his agenda. On this note he enjoyed some success Monday night as Heyck had promised a lower tax increase than what administration proposed and that is what council delivered.
The 1.86 per cent hike as opposed to a 5.64 per cent increase proposed last month is welcome news for taxpayers faced with remorseless cost growth but shadows many of the other expense factors that tend to go unchallenged at budget time.
These include hefty increases to user fees for programs and services, which account for about 34.8 per cent of the city's total revenue of $77.98 million next year. And those fees will rise again in 2018.
Water and sewer fees will also go up by four per cent a year from 2018 through 2020 and solid waste fees are set to go up by 2.5 per cent per year over the same time.
And then there is that small issue of dealing with the federal carbon tax next year, which the city doesn't
appear to be ahead of at all.
So we really want our elected officials to focus on spending every dime of our hard-earned taxes wisely. And cut the drama, please.
