Open letter to former Coun. Jerry Siemens:
Jerry Siemens, as a former town councillor you still do not understand what your mandate on town council was. You were a representative of the residents of the Ponoka who elected you. By the tone of the letter to the editor published March 23 you still see only one side of this whole issue. You have not taken into consideration that the landowners along 38th Street have also spent a lot of time and money on this complaint of the tax for local improvement.
When the landowners along 38th Street signed a petition for the local improvement it was based on a cost of under $200,000. When the bids, with engineering fees, came in eight months later, it was for a total of $521,116.70 — 2.67 times what the landowners signed for.
Did you not think to ask what was added to the original project to bring the cost to this level? It appears this did not concern you, so why are you concerned now? Inflation was not running at 267 per cent when this project was bid on.
Nick Kohlman has nothing to gain by speaking up for the fair treatment of the landowners along 38th Street. The issues are not just the taxes but the town’s own policy not being adhered to and the Municipal Government Act not being followed. There are portions of this local improvement tax paid for by developers in their development agreements with the Town of Ponoka. The residents along 38th Street are being asked to pay for these pre-paid portions.
So, if you continue to have tunnel vision, you will never understand what your mandate on town council was. It is the people of the town who you represented, not the mayor of the town. If you had used your microscope on town affairs, all this would not be required.
William Kuncio
Editor’s Note: This conversation is now closed. GAB, editor