CHARLES TWEED/Ponoka News
Speculation ran rampant about the mysterious nine-page letter at a meeting between the Rimoka Housing Foundation board and its residents June 15.
One resident asked the Rimoka board to simply make the letter public in an attempt to diffuse all of the conjecture it created.
“This letter that you got that has all of the concerns in it, I think if it affects all of us here at Legacy (Place) we should be let known what is in this letter. I think you should make it public,” stated one resident to the board.
Joe Anglin, chairman of Rimoka, reiterated that the letters were personal.
“It was a private letter and anytime one of you steps up and speaks up it does affect all of you because this is your home but the reality is we have to respect your privacy. If you address us in a letter it is your business whether you want other people to see the letter,” said Anglin.
“My concerns are specifically to my apartment, period. That’s it, my apartment, you got it, I’m not going to say it again,” quipped the resident who wrote the letter.
Apart from that moment, the meeting was fairly standard.
Residents raised concerns about issues ranging from moving the garbage bin closer to the building to knocking pipes in the building and the removal of broken appliances to cleaning up dead trees in front of the building and assuring the remaining trees don’t suffer the same fate.
Anglin stressed the board would continue to hold the meetings to ensure that residents were receiving the best care they could provide.
“We are here again and it is a chance for the residents to speak up to make suggestions or bring us your concerns and we will take the information and get back to you or act on the information as best we can,” said Anglin. “This is the residents’ meeting, it is your meeting.”
The meetings are an important step in creating transparency between the residents and the board and gives everyone a chance to discuss what areas need to be addressed at the Rimoka lodges in Ponoka.
One of the main concerns from residents is the uncertainty of which the management will be running the lodges after the board hired the Bethany Group on an interim basis this winter.
“We are working at the moment on a temporary contract while we are also in the process of working on a permanent contract. What we are doing is actually bringing the Bethany Group on,” said Anglin. “We have asked for a review of our policies as well and expect that to happen over the course of the next year.”