Opinion
On Monday evening Coun. Kim Richter's motion to ask the RCMP to look at a matter brought forth by a citizen that had property seized was voted up. It was defeated with only Coun. Richter and Kositsky in favour. The other blog had made a big deal out of this and again paints Richter as the Don Quixote of Langley.
In hearing the presentation and speaking with council members it is clear that this issue is very civil in nature. The RCMP have absolutely NO jurisdiction in civil matters. This citizen met with Superintendent Janice Armstrong of the Langley RCMP the day of his ToL council delegation. While she agreed to be present in council chambers when the citizen made his delegation, it's not like the RCMP has to wait for a motion of council to do their job. They have reviewed the file and obviously decided they had no powers or rights to act on this matter.
Again, for council to meddle in police affairs just opens one big can of stinking worms. As Councillor Ferguson pionted out, people sometimes get tickets from the police for various driving infractions and would council now be asking the RCMP to re-evaluate them? Coun. Bob Long also made intelligent statements about not messing in RCMP business. What the other blog conveniently failed to mention is that apparently Mayor Green had his reservations with regards to meddling with the RCMP and did not support this Richter motion.
The other blog paints this story as the whole world falling down on this long-time resident of the Township and council standing by to watch. While this man may or may not have good reason to plead with council for help and may have legitimate concerns, the case was adjudicated by a court or a bailiff acted upon a contract, as is obvious from his delegation and what was discussed. We did not try to request access to the documents presented, but decisions to cease property don't just happen and the RCMP heard the delegation and still did nothing more with this matter. Council is wise to let the police be the police and for council to be council.
5 comments:
It is a fair comment however, if the man has personal property doesn't that change the issue?
There is no reason for the other party to hold the man's personal property other than to be difficult.
I guess he went to council for help.
I would like to know the whole story before passing judgement.
I am convinced that Council would benefit from a workshop in Policy Governance.
It could be very helpful in discerning where their (& others')roles begin & end.
To micro-manage is not in the Council's best interest. Nor does it utilize the asset for which they have been hired: To Govern.
As my Dad would say, "Let the roofers do the roofing".
Even Tricky Ricky said no to Kooky Kimmy on this one. Kooky Kimmy does not care about anyone but herself.
"It is a fair comment however, if the man has personal property doesn't that change the issue? There is no reason for the other party to hold the man's personal property other than to be difficult. I guess he went to council for help. I would like to know the whole story before passing judgement."
Because the extensive documents had lots of personal info they were not made public. But in speaking with at least 4 people who had access to the docs, they said the material was as the delegation, all over the show in presenting facts and such. Also, they say it was VERY clear from all the "evidence" that this was 100% a civil matter.
After hearing the delgation account from our council monitor, we were wondering if this property seizure was as a result of a commerical property lease. Unlike a residential lease that is goverened by the Residential Tenancy Act, a commercial lease can provide for immediate seizure of property, business goods, etc. as a result of any tenant default. Not to accuse this man of anything, but this could be a possible explanation. But the people that had access that we talked to all agree this is clearly a CIVIL matter.
Kudos to Council for killing Kooky Kimmy's kooky contrivance.
Honorable mention to Tricky Ricky for not falling for every single one of her Kooky motions.
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