Response to a Letter to the Editor from Norm Harley.
I would like to correct a claim made by Norm Harley in his letter, Gazette, Wednesday, May 27.
Mr. Harley stated: “If we do not use the MSI grants for utilities, the city manager will simply use the funds for his personal wish list, including DARP.”
There are several errors with this claim. First, DARP (the Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan) was approved by council on Aug. 16, 2010, long before I started working for the City of St. Albert in April 2012 so it is not my pet project; I am simply following the direction of council. Also, the city manager does not decide which projects are approved for capital spending nor do I have any authority to re-direct funding, that decision making is the sole responsibility of council. To suggest that the city manager has any authority to re-direct the use of provincial MSI grants (Municipal Sustainability Initiative) to other projects is greatly misleading.
Yes, I do have a personal wish list of projects but they involve the internal administration of the city. I am building leadership capacity to plan for the future, I am upgrading staff skills to better serve residents and provide professional advice to council, I am expanding the use of analytics to better inform decision making and I am championing new technologies to make city operations more efficient. Council has delegated to the city manager the effective and efficient management of administrative services and I follow through on these council directions.
Mr. Harley, you are very familiar with how the city operates and I would ask that you refrain from making misleading public statements about the city manager. If you have any questions on the roles and authorities of the city manager, I would be pleased to address them.
Patrick Draper, city manager, St. Albert
