The mayor of the Town of Craik said they are “trying to get on track” after a concerned resident presented a number of questions to council May 14 about the living situation among members of the community along with a claim her grandson and a few of his friends found cheques made out to the town by residents floating in a ditch.

“I’m not too sure how it’s going to go, but we’re working on stuff in town to get the town going too,” said Craik Mayor Rick Rogers when asked if the situation involving the found cheques could eventually end up in court. “Yeah, I remember Marlene (Stubbington) coming to the meeting on Wednesday night. She had lots of topics. Too many to answer at one meeting, so we photocopied and we said we’d answer all of her topics and questions for her.”

Rogers confirmed Stubbington brought up the found cheques at council, but said he personally didn’t see them or the boys who found them. He said he didn’t know when asked how cheques made out to the Town of Craik by residents could end up in a ditch.

“Well we’re having a little bit of trouble here in town and I’m not allowed to talk about some things that are going on in town,” said Rogers. “So this is getting right on borderline, so I’m not allowed to talk about this topic I think you’re getting at there.”

The mayor confirmed cheques should be sent straight to a bank once received by town officials, but he doesn’t “know really what happened” in this incident. He said his lawyer has told him not to talk about the situation when asked whether the town has taken any measures to look into the found cheques and investigate further.

Rogers confirmed Craik administrator Jeff Murray has also been put on leave and the two situations are related. When asked when and why the administrator was put on leave, he replied “well that’s what my lawyer told me not to talk about.”

Stubbington said her grandson and a few of his friends found the cheques that were written to the Town of Craik “floating in a ditch” in mid-April after water flooded over some streets in the town. She said some of the cheques were then returned to the town administrator and some were also brought to the bank.

She added her approach to council May 14 stemmed from wanting Mayor Rogers to open up an account at the bank for her to pay her bills because the town office was not “looking after them right” when handed in. Stubbington said the response she received was ‘nothing could be done’ because the matter was under investigation.

“I don’t know,” Stubbington said when asked what she hoped going before council would accomplish. “I want my money to be safe, that’s for sure.”

Craik RCMP Constable Kam Hay said they do not have an investigation going on right now into the found cheques or anything that may be related to them. He said nothing has been reported to the police about this situation as of yet.

To read more please see the May 26 print edition of The Davidson Leader.