It’s been one year since Karen Friesen opened a bike store in her hometown of Fort Macleod.
However, Karen never imagined the challenges she would face. “There are a lot of empty businesses right on Main Street that before were thriving and that’s disturbing,” she said.
Friesen feels the Town has been preventing businesses like hers from thriving, due to tax hikes and poor infrastructure. Her biggest concern is with the Chief Administrative Officer, David Connauton, who she says hasn’t been accountable to tax payers.
“I don’t feel that the job is being done properly. In order to make positive changes in this town, we need to make specific changes to get the ball moving.”
Friesen has joined other business owners in organizing a petition to hold Connauton responsible for what she explained is a habit of over-spending.
Connauton told Global News he doesn’t want to comment at this time until he looks into the matter further.
Speaking on behalf of the town, Deputy Mayor Trish Hoskin said council is standing behind Connauton. “As far as the business decisions, we recognize there are gaps and there are challenges ahead of us and we are being very proactive to work on those,” she said.
The petition comes just one month after Mayor Rene Gender was suspended for acting outside of council. However, Hoskin is asking residents to stay the course and put their trust in Council.
“The past year has been a challenge. But I do think we’ve come out on top. We’ve grown quiet strong as a council.”
But Friesen doesn’t agree, and feels the petition is the only way to get the message out. “I’m hoping that with anything this petition brings attention to some of the problems and gets some of those people to think are we really doing the right thing,” she said.
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