Mayor lashes out at provincial bureaucrats

By David MacDonald david.macdonald@peicanada.com Georgetown Mayor Peter Llewellyn lashed out at what he called the “punitive actions” of provincial government officials regarding proposals the town submitted to an infrastructure program. The mayor made the comments at Monday night’s monthly meeting. Much of the issue surrounded the proposal for funding to hire a bylaw officer to be shared between the Georgetown, Montague and Souris. The proposal was sent to the Capacity Building Program, funded by the federal and provincial governments. The towns submitted the proposal in February, but did not receive a response from provincial officials until May. The towns were then asked to re-submit the proposal. Mayor Llewellyn spoke to officials from the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs in early May, when he criticized their handling of the file. Some time after that, Mayor Llewellyn said he was told by an infrastructure employee that elected officials were not invited to a meeting between town staff and government staff regarding the proposal. “I put forward the position that we have every right to attend meetings with staff,” the mayor said. “I was told ... I was totally unwelcome to the meeting.” “My assumption is we were being punished for criticizing the handling of the two files. These are punitive actions taken by non-elected officials.” On May 12 the mayor wrote to Premier Robert Ghiz and ACOA Minister Peter MacKay. The letters said the mayor had been told by government employees that as an elected official he should only deal with elected officials while town staff would deal with government staff. “If government continues to support its employee’s right to exclude me as an elected official from any meeting with my staff, then I have essentially been relieved of my position as mayor and CEO of Georgetown,” the letter read. Premier Ghiz responded in a letter June 19. Mr. Ghiz said the province has no objection to elected municipal officials attending any meeting with government staff on municipality-related matters. The town still hasn’t received the funding. Earlier this month was town asked once again asked to re-submit its proposal and include a business plan as well as support from neighbouring communities. But it appears there will be bylaw enforcement in the three municipalities regardless of funding. National Port Security Services, of Charlottetown, has been contracted to enforce bylaws on an as-needed basis, effective Friday. The firm met with representatives of Georgetown and Souris this week and proposed a cost of $35 an hour for their services.