Editor:
(re: Comments made by Carmen Graf, Mayor of Telkwa).
As taxpaying residents of the Village of Telkwa who were in attendance at the March 26 meeting of the village council, we are writing to express our disapproval of Mayor Carman Graf’s underhanded attack on Adam Ethier during the public comment portion of the meeting.
On two occasions in the past year Mayor Graf has either tabled or supported a motion to eliminate the public comment portion of council meetings.
He has succeeded in gaining council support to marginalize comments from the public by implementing the following rules: members of the public are not allowed to ask any questions and their comments are restricted such that they are only allowed to address items on the agenda of the current meeting.
After Mr. Ethier made three respectful and valid comments regarding agenda items, Mayor Graf launched into a tirade in which he inaccurately referenced a document published by Mr. Ethier on his web blog during the election campaign nearly six months ago.
The mayor accused Mr. Ethier of slander and threatened legal action, without providing substantive evidence of Mr. Ethier’s guilt.
The mayor’s conduct was clearly in breach of council’s own rules for public comment.
Unless, of course the mayor and council are not subject to the rules which they have set out for members of the public.
As Telkwa taxpayers, are we to assume we will be subject to unfounded accusations and threats of litigation if we express our opinions on municipal taxation or other issues related to council or the Corporation of the Village of Telkwa?
We believe the mayor owes Mr. Ethier a public apology.
We expect Mayor Graf will conduct himself in a more professional manner in the future.
Audrey McKinnon
and 7 others
Telkwa