Dear Editor,
As tax paying residents of this municipality, we all have the right to ask questions and be answered. These are fundamentals of municipal government. What we don’t expect is to be subject to attacks on our character and questioned about our intelligence from our mayor. This was the case last week, when I asked for the Municipality of Shawville, through their info@ email address where I could access council meeting minutes dating back to April 12, 2022. They have not been posted since then. I had heard that the town would be installing water meters and I wanted more information.
I did not receive a reply to my email, so I posted the question to no one in particular on my Facebook page. Within minutes, I was attacked by the mayor and accused of spreading false information. As the mayor continued with his comments, he called me a liar and then asked me if English was my first language.
I contacted him in private asking for an apology and he told me to “Get over it.” When it finally became clear to the mayor that I never did receive a response to my request for information via email, he posted another comment on Facebook apologizing for calling me a liar.
An employee of any other company or organization in this country would be seriously reprimanded for speaking to a customer like this. We are customers of the council. We pay their salary through our taxes. Our mayor should be held to a Municipal Code of Conduct. This is not acceptable.
Carolann Barton
Shawville, Que.
