Mission Councilor Herar Wants Apology From Mayor And Fellow Councilor For Intimidation!

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Mission councillor Herar stood his ground when council recently voted on the 2020 tax bylaw that sought increase of 4.39 percent but Herar was the only one to stand up for Mission residents, saying the time was not right for an increase this size and that council should reconsider given the financial crunch everywhere. While residents of Mission saw Herar as people’s champion, a fellow councilor Cal Crawford insulted Herar by calling it grandstanding. And to make matters worse, Mayor Pam Alexis did not sanction Crawford’s out-of-line comment. Now Herar wants apology from both Crawford and Alexis and he’s not returning to council until he gets one.

MISSION – There is a new Sheriff in Mission and his name is Ken Herar.

Mission councillor Herar stood his ground when council recently voted on the 2020 tax bylaw that sought increase of 4.39 percent but Herar was the only one to stand up for Mission residents, saying the time was not right for an increase this size and that council should reconsider given the financial crunch everywhere.

While residents of Mission saw Herar as people’s champion, a fellow councilor Cal Crawford insulted Herar by calling it grandstanding. And to make matters worse, Mayor Pam Alexis did not sanction Crawford’s out-of-line comment.

Now Herar wants apology from both Crawford and Alexis.

Herar told a Mission newspaper that he feels humiliated by comments made by Crawford and believes a public apology is in order from both Crawford and Alexis.

And he said he’s not returning to council chambers until that happens.

The dispute began last Monday evening as council debated the 2020 annual tax rates bylaw. Herar, reading from a prepared statement, told council he felt the pre-approved municipal tax increase of 4.39 per cent should be lowered in light of the recent economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. He even volunteered to take a pay cut of five per cent, reported the Mission Record.

The rest of council did not support altering the increase – which was set, debated and voted on in December 2019 – and Crawford stated that he was surprised by Herar’s “grandstanding.”

When Herar asked Alexis to have Crawford clarify his comment, the mayor suggested that the two men “have a conversation offline.”

A few days after the meeting, Herar is still unhappy.

“I’m disappointed by those comments by Coun. Crawford. It was a cheap comment to make. My heartfelt intentions were to express the views of our citizens. By deflecting it, we don’t get to really tackle the issues we needed to.”

Herar believes there was an opportunity to bring some amendments to the budget to provide relief to citizens.

“When you make a comment like that, you insult the people who may not be able to afford this budget at this time, with job losses, limited work or no work. I think he (Crawford) owes the community an apology.”

Herar said he doesn’t care about an apology for himself, but feels that Crawford’s comments were an insult to those struggling financially. He also said Alexis should apologize.

“I felt Mayor Alexis should have dealt with it then and there at the meeting … I asked for a clarification point because he (Crawford) was out of order.

“I tried to do something positive and you get slapped in your face.”