Mayor Gary Sulz reprimanded councillors Cody Younker and Steven Cross for what he called “divisive comments” on social media.
The tension around the council table was high on Tuesday afternoon as Sulz read examples of the comments and questioned the councillors intentions.
“A local resident posted on social media, ‘Cody Younker, it sounds like seniors and people on fixed incomes, for one reason or another, will keep getting the shaft again. This is quite a familiar practice for the bureaucrats at city hall.’ Councillor Younker’s response was ‘yup’. In light of this, what was your intention and how does this statement work towards bettering the situation in the community?” Sulz asked.
Younker declined to comment, saying he would have to review the conversation before doing so.
Sulz also quoted a social media post from Steven Cross.
“Several assigned council have asked our Mayor and CAO to bring back the DCC issue as soon as possible in 2019. These have not been updated in more than a decade and developers need to pay their fair share so costs are reasonable for both current tax payers and the developer themselves. Right now the DCC charges are way too low.”
And a reply from Younker.
“Good points but until our mayor and CAO decide to bring the DCCs back they will continue to go underfunded. The clock is ticking and it may be time for a councillor to put forward a notice of motion.”
The mayor once again asked what the purpose of these statements were.
“How can the mayor and CAO be holding back, when we haven’t dealt with this issue as a budget item?” he said.
Cross defended himself, saying that he did not believe his comments were divisive and that wasn’t the intention behind them.
“We have been told at different times that it would be brought back,” he said. “When I brought it up at the sewer fees increase, I was told it would be in the budget and it isn’t. I feel let down completely by yourself, your worship. And I feel it is poor leadership.And I also feel let down by the city because this is just a fancy way of getting around a very important question that our people need to have answered to have fair taxation.”
Sulz brought the conversation to an end by saying that he brought the issue forward in order to inform the public who are not on social media what was happening.
“I am all for free speech and we are all entitled to is, councillors, but I feel this sort of engagement just inflames and incites discord and erodes trust community wide,” he said.
To hear the full conversation, see the video below at 2:50.
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