A formal complaint against Wheatland County councillor Glenn Koester was made during a private in-camera session. This week the issue was raised at the county meeting as only Koester’s name was made public, yet the allegations, accused and investigation remain confidential.

“That is hurtful to me and damaging to me,” said Koester. “I am going through it I am getting questioned and I can’t answer. That’s the only reason I am putting this forward,” he said.

On March 1, the council voted for the administration to hire an independent investigation team to review a formal complaint against councillor Glenn Koester.

Koester said he believed it was unfair to him and is not transparent to ratepayers. He also asked for the findings of the investigation to be made public.

“I am named now and I can’t talk to my ratepayers. It’s the first time in 20 years I haven’t been able to describe something to them being constrained as it’s in-camera. It feels to me like I’m dodging the questions,” he said.

The complaint was discussed during an in-camera session of the county council, and therefore cannot be discussed in public.

At the March 22 meeting, Koester made a motion for the allegations and the final report from the investigation be made public so that the public can see what the allegations are.

He said he had no problem differing the motion until after the investigation.

One of the issues that was discussed was that the councillor does not have the ability to publicly respond to allegations.

“I’m being named, I find it unfair,” he said. “I think it’s a flaw with the bylaw. If you are going to keep it confidential.” He found exception that he was the only one named.

“I want the complaint out,” he said. “I want the same treatment, just what I did wrong and if I was judged by the investigator.”

In the end, there was no vote, and Koester asked for the motion to be withdrawn so it can be discussed at a later date.

 

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