DIDSBURY - A local resident attacked by a neighbour's dog in 2014 is calling for the resignation of Mayor Rhonda Hunter and CAO Harold Northcott, alleging they have both failed in the current handling of the incident.
In April 2014 Laverne Guertin was bitten and injured by a blue heeler. She received wounds to her hands and legs.
The dog in question was subsequently destroyed.
Hunter was not the mayor and Northcott was not the CAO in 2014.
Guertin says she has questions about the town's handling of the incident, including the decision to have the animal euthanized in Carstairs.
Guertin says she has made freedom of information (FOIP) requests asking for town documents regarding the case, but says she believes the documents she has received are incomplete.
Neither Northcott nor Hunter are directly responsible for handling FOIP requests for the Town of Didsbury.
During the May 22 council meeting, Guertin said she is unhappy with how the incident is currently being handled.
“You have put this community in a very vulnerable state of danger by not taking action regarding the negligence of our bylaw and now peace officers, who secretly gave permission to euthanize a dog while it was still under quarantine by order of the Department of Health and Environment,” said Guertin.
“This quarantine act is given when a dog viciously attacks a person. This dog did not have his shots up to date. This officer in question put my life in danger and when you, Mr. Northcott, knew about this you did nothing.
“I want this officer to be appropriately disciplined. This has never been done. There was never an investigation by her supervisor.”
There is no provincial Department of Health and Environment, and there was no quarantine order.
In a Didsbury Review article published immediately after the April 2014 attack, Derek Sutherland, the town's manager of protective services, said that the dog was "put under a confinement order, which is standard procedure after a dog bite to see if there's any disease involved."
Sutherland also said that tissue samples were sent to a laboratory to determine whether there was disease involved.
When asked about the issue, Northcott stated that any inquiries regarding a FOIP request made by a third party should be directed as a FOIP request to the FOIP coordinator for the Town of Didsbury, Matthew Konowalchuk.
As of press time Monday, the Gazette had not heard from either Konowalchuk nor Hunter in regards to the matter.
