Radisson residents file petition to have council removed

Residents of Radisson say they are fed up with their local council and want the province to step in.

Chris Tyreman told 650 CKOM’s John Gormley on Wednesday that problems with the town council have reached the point where residents submitted a petition to the province to have councillors removed.

Tyreman said the council’s soaring debt and rampant spending has the town on the brink of bankruptcy.

“Citizens are quite worried,” he said. “We’ve watched decisions come along. The decisions were less than adequate, in fact they got us in a lot of problems.”

Radisson’s deputy mayor and the town administrator declined to join the show for comment.

Tyreman said one such decision to change garbage dumps was promoted as a way to save the town money, but ended up costing ratepayers more, with reduced service.

He said even more concerning is the opposition people have faced in the community while trying to make positive change.

In December, Larry Raynard resigned his council seat, citing concerns about spending and the town’s finances in a letter.

Mayor Leona Bennett was elected in a byelection in June 2018, and her efforts to clean up the problems have also been blocked. Tyreman said a group on town council has managed to strip nearly all her mayoral powers.

“Signing powers, ability to communicate with ratepayers — it is so bad she is not allowed to even set foot into our town office without being babysat by another councillor,” he said. “No matter how many times we’ve approached council, they say it’s a matter they cannot tell us.”

Tyreman said he knows of some residents who have stopped paying their taxes in protest.

He said they brought their concerns to their local MLA, Randy Weekes of the Saskatchewan Party, and to the provincial ombudsman, both to no avail.

Radisson is about 65 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.