Dear Editor,
Mayor and council’s ongoing secrecy around their decision to take over governance of The ACT from the arts council feels like a betrayal of the trust of Maple Ridge residents.
Since the mayor’s surprise announcement on Sept. 8, mayor and council have been refusing to release minutes of the closed meetings, or any documents that led to their decision.
The city won’t even release the dates that the closed meetings took place, except through a formal Freedom of Information request, which allows them to delay releasing the information for several weeks.
All of this is in flagrant violation of several recommendations made by the B.C. Ombudsperson in his recent guidebook, “Open Meetings: Best Practices for Local Governments.”
Why are mayor and council acting in such an anti-democratic and dismissive manner by refusing to release records of discussions, information, and documents which their decision was based on?
Is it because they don’t want to allow citizens time to appeal the reasons for mayor and council’s decision before their takeover of The ACT is a fait accompli?
Is it because they knew their decision-making was actually based on questionable reasoning or motives that would be rejected by most Maple Ridge citizens?
Or, is it just because they have no respect for the citizens who elected them?
Steve Ranta, Maple Ridge
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