Editor: Your newspaper does not seem to have checked the facts in a letter to the RMO on April 28. The lot at 990 Wilson Way in the Peaks should rightfully be owned by the Town of Canmore, but due to a 1998 error that administration has acknowledged making, was in fact never registered to the Town of Canmore.
On discovering this error in 2007, then-mayor Casey’s council gave specific direction to administration, which was duly documented in minutes, to transfer the title to this lot to its rightful owner, the Town. Canmore administration did not follow this specific direction and the lot’s title incorrectly remained in TSMV’s name.
What would your readers do if they found out 20 years after buying their house, that the title was still registered in the name of the previous owner? Would they expect this error to be fixed?
The letter writer stated that the “council of the day designated it as MR expecting they could turn around and sell it in order to make some money and put the proceeds to better use.” The rest of us ordinary citizens are not aware that when developments are approved, the lands that are transferred to the Town and zoned Municipal Reserve (MR) will only stay MR for a few years and eventually be subject to development. When MR-designated lands are donated to the Town, the developers get brownie points and the Town pats itself on the back for getting the “gift” of land. Reality hits in 2016 when “livable Canmore” is adopted and “infill” of existing neighbourhoods becomes the goal of the majority of our council.
Employers are responsible to fix errors that are made by their employees. In fact, errors and omissions insurance is normally carried by employers to cover the risk of negligence and errors made by their employees while carrying on their employment duties. Why would the letter writer not want the Town to do what is right and moral and fix this error?
Blanca Cervi,
Canmore
