While Yorkton prepares for an election battle royale with four mayoral candidates and 24 hopefuls vying for six council positions, the real local fireworks may be smouldering in an adjacent rural municipality.
In 2012, disgruntled residents in Division 1 of the R.M. of Orkney managed to oust the long-standing reeve Barclay Westerhaug in favour of their own man Dale Rhinas.
At the heart of their complaints was a rising tax bill that did not seem to be resulting in any better services. According to Joe Zarowny, who is acting as a spokesperson for some Division one voters, nothing much has changed in the four years since the last election. He noted the group is not necessarily unhappy with Rhinas, but that the reeve is virtually powerless to change anything with council divided along an urban-rural split.
The group has a laundry list of complaints, the inequitable distribution of services still being the biggest, but perhaps the most controversial of which is a potential conflict of interest. According to Zarowny, one of the councillors receives $1,000 a month to take care of the water plant in the Village of Willowbrook.
It is clearly a violation of the Municipalities Act for a council member to be an employee of the municipality, but Yorkton This Week was not able to verify what the arrangement is, or whether it exists. In fact, this newspaper was not even able to obtain from the R.M. a list of the candidates running in the current election. As of press time, the R.M. had not provided that information to SARM, either.
And therein lies the root of all the residents’ concerns, Zarowny said, admitting everything could be on the up and up, but they would never know because Council and the administration simply refuses to communicate.
“When there is no communication, you start to wonder what they are trying to hide,” he said.
For three years, residents lobbied for a public ratepayers meeting, but were turned down time and again. The meeting finally happened in April of this year under relentless pressure, but at a special meeting prior to the public meeting, Council voted not to answer questions.
The members representing Divisions two through six made good on that vote walking out after formal presentations ended. The reeve and Division 1 councillor Gordon Rhinas stuck around, but were unable to provide answers to the questions to the satisfaction of the group. Zarowny said when they have tried to get answers by attending council meetings they have been stymied by procedure.
The group has registered a complaint with the Ombudsman of Saskatchewan about the handling of the Willowbrook water plant. Yorkton This Week’s calls to the ombudsman’s office for comment were not returned.
“Ratepayers intend to provide details every week regarding the past and present reflecting council’s lack of communication and the attitude that because they are in power they can do whatever they want,” he wrote.
“Ratepayers are encouraged to attend the next council meeting, which is scheduled for 8 a.m. Thursday, October 13. You will not believe what goes on.”
