As pointed out in the previous blog post, Cochrane Town Council Refuses Gift of Framed Charter, with a majority (6 out of 7, namely, Genung, Fedeyko, McFadden, Flowers, Reed, and Nagel) of Town Council saying they would not support having the framed Charter of Rights and Freedoms hung in the Council Chambers, on October 30th Deborah Murphy reached out to the mayor’s office to set up an appointment to retrieve the unwanted Charter from the mayor. Her attached letter (Mayor G.October 30th 2022) concluded, “If the gifted framed Charter, the supreme law of the land, which we presumed would be highly valued by our Town Council, will not be displayed in the Council Chambers, please give me a day and time that I can come in to collect the unwanted gift and deliver you all from this burden. We will retain it to present to the newly elected Town Council”. The response from his assistant was for Deborah to provide her mailing address so that it would be mailed back to her. Deborah rejected that ridiculous, offensive offer, incurring tax dollars, and insisted that she come in and pick it up from his hands just as he had received it in his hands with his big smile 7 months before on April 27th.
Presentations of a letter from the Hon. Brian Peckford and a framed copy of the Charter received by mayor Jeff Genung on April 27th, 2022. (Photo by Barry Blick.)
Not receiving a reply from the mayor after nearly a month had passed, typical of ‘Mr. Positivity’s’ passive aggressive behaviour, Deborah sent the following email to the mayor and the entire Council on November 26th.
Good day Mayor and Council
Please find attached a letter I sent to Mr. Genung on October 30th. I now see it was a mistake to not address this letter to all council. I understand that all our public servants may not be aware of our correspondence with the mayor.
On November 3rd I had not gotten any reply, not even an acknowledgement of receiving the letter.
I phoned and left a message for Mr. Genung, with no reply to that message I phoned one more time mentioning that you could at the very least acknowledge you got my request, I had just hung up the phone, and I received an email from mayor’ executive assistant, Jayne Dangerfield copy of Ms. Dangerfield’s email and my reply below.
It is now 7 months since Mr. Genung received the gift with the request that it be hung in the chambers. Three weeks ago, we were informed that the majority are not in favor of having the Charter hanging in the chambers.
I was willing to go at a time of Mr. Genung’ choosing to collect the unwanted gift, now 3 weeks later he has not given me a day and time.
My time, energy and resources are as important as yours. Since you, Mr. Genung have not been able to give me a suitable time I would like to help you out. I will be available to meet you between 3 and 4pm Monday through Friday next week, this will only take a few minutes of your time. Please let me know what day will work for you, that we may end this saga.
That email finally elicited a reply from Mayor Genung that he copied to the rest of Town Council:
I asked the gift to be shipped back as I wish to move on from this and not engage in further discussion and additionally save you a trip. The item is at the front desk at the Ranchehouse available to be picked up at your convenience.
How generous of him to want to save us a trip on the taxpayer’s dollar. As Deborah said it would only take a few minutes of his time to simply pick up the charter from him so don’t understand what he was so worried about with respect engaging in further discussion. He supposedly wants to “move on” and yet dragged matters out for months through his disrespectful stonewalling. Disappointed by his unwillingness to return the framed Charter the same way that he had so obligingly received it, there was no other recourse than to make the trip to the Ranchehouse to retrieve the unwanted gift at the front desk. That took place on November 28th. The mayor was not to be found at the Ranchhouse that day, presumably hiding in his safe space.
Photos below from the journey to retrieve the unwanted framed copy of the Charter.
Ron Voss with retrieved Charter standing in front of the locked doorways leading to the Administration offices where a framed charter on the wall can be found which Mayor Genung deemed as sufficient, saying, “there’s no need for another framed charter in town hall”.
Ron Voss and Deborah Murphy standing in front of the doorway to the Council Chambers from which the framed Charter of Rights and Freedoms was barred by Mayor Jeff Genung and the majority of the Councillors.
A video showing the access to a copy of the Charter to be found in the Ranchehouse: