Open letter to Mayor and Council City of Quesnel, BC
Re: City Manager’s “fact check” on relocation of gold pan – June 23, 2020
Video: https://youtu.be/KUhNHAz9Bas?t=4785
Last fall, after it was first made public that the City had voted at a meeting to relocate the gold pan to the rail yard, I requested all the information through FOI regarding the relocation of the gold pan over the past three years. Mainly, in view of Mayor Simpson asserting that the gold pan was simply a marketing “gimmick” from the 80’s and the matter of relocating the gold pan had been settled two – three years, or perhaps two years previously by Council, and therefore was a done deal.
I am confused, as will you be, at the report given by our City Manager at the Council meeting on June 23, 2020 unless there are two sets of minutes, one for the City and one for the public.
It is interesting to note that at the Council meeting just prior to June 23, 2020, the City Manger was given license in a policy resolution to oversee and reprimand the Council members. To my knowledge this should not be the mandate of any City Manager as politics and the operations of running the City are to be kept strictly separate.
Quite frankly, I was shocked at the footage I watched of the June 23, 2020 Council meeting as I certainly had NOT discovered the same information as the City Manager. I thought it best to have another serious examination of the materials sent to me and to do some careful research of my own. Not only was our senior member of Council completely shut down by our Mayor because he questions and sometimes opposes the status quo, he was not given anywhere near his 15 minutes to defend the allegations against him. What did Ron Paull want to say?
From what I have seen and not heard from our Council members through reaching out personally (with respect to the relocation of the gold pan) to all of our Council members via email and hand delivering a 600+ name petition is puzzling. The silence from our elected officials other than the Mayor with respect to the matter is doubly puzzling. I can only come to the conclusion that the bullying and intimidation by the Mayor of our Council members is out of hand and must be addressed.
On November 6, 2019, myself, along with other folks concerned with respect to the relocation of our gold pan attended a heritage forum at City Hall. We were muzzled at that meeting and told that there would be no discussion on the gold pan at that meeting. We were assured that there would be another opportunity to share our concerns. I have letters from other people who attended this meeting to confirm this statement. There were City staff present and several Councillors.
Our gold pan is not, as the Mayor asserts, a marketing gimmick from the 80’s. The Cygnus consulting group who developed the branding plan indicated that the gold pan was indeed a landmark. To relocate our gold pan is to erase the impact our iconic landmark offers to the Cariboo. This important fact was conveniently left out of reports to Council and the public. You can see for yourselves in the information attached. The lack of honesty and transparency with respect to this matter is nothing short of corrupt.
In closing I would like to add that after you, the public, elected officials, and the media peruse the re-examination report of the City Manager’s June 23, 2020 “fact check” you will understand how the public’s trust has been violated. These types of incidents do not engender and cultivate a sense of transparency and honesty among the general public.
Leave our landmark gold pan where it is. The train yard is not a safe nor appealing location for future visitors to our iconic landmark gold pan, which is not a gimmick!
Please see the following re-examination of the City Manager’s fact checking report.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the public who signed the petition.
Debra McKelvie
