Alderman promises questions for Enmax Board, Tuesday
Posted Feb 14, 2011 4:02 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart is continuing her efforts for transparency into Enmax, the city-owned utility company that has found itself in the headlines in recent months for everything from rock star parties at the home of the company’s Chief Executive Officer to the compensation package awarded to that same CEO.
Upset over allegations of impropriety at the city’s largest holding, Colley-Urquhart says she will have a list of questions for the company’s Board in advance of stakeholder meeting, Tuesday.
The first item on that list is the compensation package for CEO Gary Holden, who resigned following allegations he had accepted a trip to Monaco that was paid for by a company supplier. Last year, it was revealed Holden had hosted lavish parties at his home, featuring rock stars Tom Cochrane and Gordon Downie of The Tragically Hip, on the company’s tab.
“Whether it includes pension,” Colley-Urquhart told reporters of the questions she will have concerning Holden’s compensation deal, said to be worth $4 million. “Whether Enmax property is still his property. So there’s a whole number of things I want to know about their decisions.”
Regardless, the city councillor feels Tuesday’s meeting is too little, and too late, amid allegations of oversight by the Enmax Board.
“I would have hoped that this Board would have stepped down, so that we could have had a fresh beginning,” Colley-Urquhart continued. “But obviously that hasn’t happened yet. So we need to look at the governance” (of the company). “One thing I know for sure,” (Enmax) “does not belong to the executives that run the company. It belongs to Calgarians. It’s the biggest asset we have.”
She’s hoping a procedural review can take place before the company’s annual general meeting in May.
Colley-Urquhart says she’s been told by legal counsel that she can not turn over any information she’s acquired on alleged wrong-doing to Police. Last week, the alderman promised to turn those items over to police for investigation. Now she’s encouraging Enmax employees to talk investigators.
