Council hears delegation from new Claresholm Citizens Coalition

By Rob Vogt, Local Press Writer
A new group in Claresholm has formed that wants to ensure good governance for the Town of Claresholm.
Susan Holland appeared as a delegation at the Jan. 8 meeting of Claresholm town council representing the Claresholm Citizens Coalition.
Reading from a prepared statement, she said the coalition is a group advocating for fair, responsible and transparent governance in the town.
“We will be asking this council hard questions and will be looking for transparent answers in return,” she read.
“We have a Facebook page for everyone to join, watch and follow that is open to conversation, opinions, questions and ideas.”
She invited people to type in “Claresholm Citizens Coalition”.
Holland then turned her attention to the upcoming town open house on Jan. 24.
“The public have stated that they wanted an open forum, yet the mayor and council have chosen an open house,” she read. “The open house will have: small working stations; the council will be divided up; questions will need to be printed on a form or recorded on a tape recorder; no questions or answers will be given until a later date.”
Holland then posed several questions to council:
1) How will they know how many and what questions were asked?
2) Who decides which questions will be answered?
3) Where can these answers be found?
“And most importantly, are we, the people, going to be privy to know all the questions that were asked or just be told the ones that the council chooses (to) answer?” she concluded.
Council does not make decisions on any request made by a delegation at the same meeting at which the request is made, so the item will be on the agenda of a future council meeting.