ABSTRACT

Following the arrogant, disrespectful manner in which Councillor Reed treated his fellow councillor, Marni Fedeyko, in the discussion that took place on December 11, 2023 related to the final approval of the 2024-2026 budget, an email “Boorish Town Councillor Should Apologize”, was sent to the Town Council on December 13, 2023 recommending that Councillor Reed issue an apology before taking his seat at the next scheduled Regular Council Meeting (January 8, 2024).

FULL BLOG

Cochrane Now in its report of the discussion that took place at the Regular Council Meeting on December 11, 2023 related to the final approval of the 2024-2026 budget, noted that, “Accusations fly during budget vote”. However, as reported by Cochrane Now, the accusations were flying only in one direction as “Councillor Alex Reed launched an attack upon Councillor Marni Fedeyko”. Councillor Reed’s arrogant, disrespectful comments read from a prepared script can be found between 2:30:24 and 2:32:54 minutes of the video from the December 11, 2023 meeting and the following is a transcript of what he said,

According to Councillor Reed, if you don’t applaud the budget prepared by the Town Administration, you are engaging in “Trump-style politics”.

As I believe Councillor Reed’s actions that evening violated the town’s Code of Conduct there should have been some disciplinary measures taken against him, particularly by Mayor Genung especially as he has the responsibility as Presider for the meeting to maintain “order and decorum”.  This prompted me to send an email, “Boorish Town Councillor Should Apologize”, to Town Council on December 13, 2023, advising them of this failure to call Councillor Reed to account and recommending that he be required to apology prior to the next Council Meeting in January. As pointed in a previous blog post, “Cochrane Councillor Shows His Disdain for Residents“, posted on July 21, 2023, behaving in such an arrogant, disrespectful way is not out of character for Councillor Reed. The following is the email, “Boorish Town Councillor Should Apologize”, that I sent to the members of Town Council on December 13, 2023.

Dear members of Council,

From my personal experience, it is has been the habit of this Town Council to treat citizens in a disrespectful manner, but they also treat one another in this way. A good example of the latter in my view was the arrogant, disrespectful manner in which Councillor Reed treated his fellow councillor, Marni Fedeyko, in the discussion that took place on December 11, 2023, related to the final approval of the 2024-2026 budget.

According to sections 8.1 and 8.2 of section 8., “Respectful Interactions with Council Members, Staff, the Public and Others”, of the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, created to establish a code of conduct that governs the behaviour of Council Members, “Members shall act in a manner that demonstrates fairness, respect for individual differences and opinions and…shall treat one another…with courtesy, dignity and respect and without abuse, bullying or intimidation”. As well, according to 4.3(a)(i) of section 4.3, “Conduct”, of the Procedural Bylaw, “Members (Councillors) shall…refrain from abusive conduct, personal attacks or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other Members of Council…or the public”. In my view, Councillor Reed’s behaviour relative to Councillor Fedeyko and the community in general on December 11, 2023, failed to meet this expected standard of behavior.

He didn’t like Councillor Fedeyko’s supposed opinion on the matter and sharply told her so. He could have outlined his own position on the budget without the necessity of attacking Councillor Fedeyko by name and her view of the budget. During his diatribe, he accused Councillor Fedeyko about wanting to “penalize” administrative staff and following the example of Justin Trudeau and his obliging subsidized progressive mainstream media like the CBC, he raised the spectre of “Trump-like politics”, railing that “some people” have been engaged in “Trump-style politics of repeating some friction, some fiction, comments often enough so that somehow they think they’re going to become reality”.Councillor Reed himself succeeded in creating “some friction” that night. While Cochrane Now in its report noted that, “Accusations fly during budget vote”, the accusations were flying in only one direction as “Councillor Alex Reed launched an attack upon Marni Fedeyko”.

Such boorish behavior by a councillor should not be tolerated. I understand that there are several mechanisms for addressing such behaviour. According to section 18 of the Council Code of Conduct, a Formal Complaint Process could be lodged against Councillor Reed. Otherwise, according to the Procedural Bylaw, it appears that a “Question of Privilege” could have been raised “when a Member (Councillor) believes that another Member (Councillor) has spoken disrespectfully towards them or Council”. According to 4.2(a) of the Procedural Bylaw, “The Presiding Officer shall preside over the conduct of the meeting, including the preservation of good order and decorum”. As well, according to 4.4a of the Procedural Bylaw, the Presider could have intervened and Called the Member to Order as a warning about a breach of conduct. Disappointing, the mayor, as presider, failed to maintain such “good order and decorum”; just sat by and did nothing. Of course, the mayor is quite capable of dishing it out himself as was evident during the discussion of Councillor Fedeyko’s notice of motion related to the Leadership of CAO Derricott.

After being informed by both Councillor McFadden and Councillor Fedeyko that he was incorrect in his accusation that Councillor Fedeyko advocated against providing a cost-of-living increase for non-unionized staff or resisting the hiring of much needed additional staff, Councillor Reed remained silent instead of doing the honorable thing and apologize for his aspersions on Councillor Fedeyko. Consequently, I recommend that at the start of the next Regular Council Meeting that councillor Reed be required to apologize.

Sincerely,

Ron Voss
Cochrane

Councillor Reed berates Councillor Fedeyko (to his right) while Mayor Jeff Genung fiddles while his municipal government burns.

UPDATE, January 16, 2024

Not unexpectedly, no apology was forthcoming from Councillor Reed at the start of the new year.

Interesting spacing between Councillor Fedeyko and Councillor Reed at the January 15, 2024 Council Meeting. Following the 6-foot rule?