I read with interest the article on Mayor Crouse’s expense reports. Mayor Crouse has doubled up on expense claims, apparently on quite a number of occasions. He stated that this was a result of “sloppy” recordkeeping. This seems possible if it happens once or twice, but on multiple occasions? That is certainly more difficult for the taxpayers in this city to come to grips with!
The Mayor is supposed to be the custodian of the public interest in our community. Indeed, as the leader of city council it could be argued that Mayor Crouse is responsible for promoting the council priorities, which includes the following: “Maintain fiscal responsibility and transparency” and ”Become a leader in accountability and transparency” (http://www.stalbert.ca/city-hall/city-council/council-priorities/excellence-in-government/). Financial accountability is clearly a primary qualification for the role of mayor. Multiple accounting discrepancies of the sort mentioned in this article can be the result of dishonesty or incompetence. Apparently our mayor has chosen to admit to the latter. Mayor Crouse, if you can’t do better, would you mind stepping down so we can choose a new leader?
John-Paul Zonneveld, St. Albert
