Dear editor,
Centuries ago, Aristotle wrote in ‘Politics,’ that “Illegality creeps in unobserved” and he cautioned citizens to be vigilant in holding their rulers to account.
In my personal opinion as a citizen and taxpayer, there are problems arising from Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Mike Derricott's decision to start a company after he was employed by the Town. Especially considering his employment contract clearly required that this was not to be done, as it would be a blatant disregard of the terms of the contract, given the notwithstanding clause, and would constitute a breach of contract.
As I see it, the notwithstanding clause, whereby Derricott could seek permission from council, was not properly used to allow the CAO to start up this company, but was used retroactively after the breach of contract had already occurred. Council's decision to deem this ‘OK’ was not properly made either.
We need to perhaps remind those at the RancheHouse that no one is above the law. Without the rule of law to protect our collective interests, we are in serious trouble in our democratic system. Once we elect the few to govern over us, they can become blasé about how the citizenry perceive their actions individually and collectively and gloss over issues with smooth talk.
Aristotle noted in his “Politics’ that a common mechanism used by rulers to protect their rule was to ostracize and belittle those who would hold rulers to account. It looks like that is what the CAO was doing, when in The Eagle's article he advised citizens to ‘get their facts right.’ What facts were gotten wrong?
Judy Stewart
