In a letter to the editor in the (Gazette, Jan. 14) edition, a resident questioned the amount of money St. Albert taxpayers will have to pay for the reinstallation and refurbishment of a monument that used to be located in front of the St. Albert Legion ($335,000 boondoggle – Your Views).
The monument was the shell of a 1950-era plane. It was removed from its pedestal at the location in April 2014, after the pedestal was struck by a motor vehicle, rendering the entire monument unsafe.
The letter writer came across as being incensed at yet another seemingly unjustified cost to the taxpayer – and rightly so.
Considering an upcoming municipal election in the not too distant future, the letter writer, and other taxpayers, should know that this was not the first time that the question of the cost of this project was brought up. I brought it up with members of council back in November 2015.
I questioned as to why any or all of the cost of the damages would not have been borne by the insurance company of the vehicle which had struck the monument, or if that vehicle could not have been located (a hit-and-run collision), be paid by the City’s own insurance company, instead of the taxpayer?
This questioned was posed to all members of council, including the mayor, as well as a letter submitted to the Gazette (Why is insurance not covering part of plane repair cost? – Your Views, November 2015).
You will all be happy to know that of mayor and six councillors, only two councillors bothered to respond to me. In the two responses, the tone was that of surprise, as if no one had thought of pursuing that avenue.
One of the councillors, Bob Russell, promised me that he would look into the matter and get back to me with a follow up response – to date, over one year later, I have not had one.
In any event, as this matter has once again been brought to my attention, I felt that I had a responsibility to submit this letter.
I have sent a copy of this letter to the mayor and all six councillors as well, for their information.
Randy Kish, St. Albert
