Empress residents will soon know path toward new council, CAO

By COLLIN GALLANT on May 31, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

The residents of Empress – where the entire village council and chief administrator resigned last month – will be apprised of what is happening at a special meeting Wednesday with a provincially appointed administrator.

That official, Harold Johnsrude, was named by Municipal Affairs ministry to legally act as council until a byelection can be held.

He held a special online meeting last Thursday to begin delineating new authority and announce the general meeting this week.

“There is business that needs to be addressed before the next normal (scheduled) meeting in June,” Johnsrude told residents on the Zoom call.

At that point several motions were passed by route, including the acceptance of hiring interim chief administrative officer Kelly Tucker and the resignations of three previous council members.

Since no councillors remained, the minutes and therefore the actions remained in a legal limbo.

New motions were required to transfer cheque signing authority, which can only take place via approved meeting minutes. That should occur at another special meeting held June 1 at the community hall.

“I will be in attendance and at that meeting I will provide some information about the future of governance of the village during my appointment,” said Johnsrude. “Besides providing an overview, at the end of the meeting there will be a Q and A for residents.”

The meeting will not be broadcast online.

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