ATHABASCA – Athabasca County councillors voted to have administration take a fresh look at its procedural bylaw despite the document being less than a year old and having passed with unanimous approval.
During the Aug. 20 committee of the whole meeting, councillors Gary Cromwell and Tracy Holland called out the code of conduct and procedural bylaws for being, among other words used, “insufficient.”
“In lieu of the last investigations, it’s been brought back that our code of conduct is weak, our code of conduct is garbage, and our procedural bylaw is beyond garbage,” said Cromwell.
Both bylaws received third reading on Jan. 9; Cromwell and Holland voted against the procedural bylaw, which passed with a 7-2 vote, and the code of conduct bylaw passed unanimously.
The pair’s desire to revisit the Code of Conduct bylaw was defeated — the committee voted to accept the report for information — with Reeve Brian Hall noting the most recent investigator had not recommended any changes to the document.
“We’ve heard that they’re weak, but we’ve not had any actual comments on what those (weak) items are,” said Hall. “I don’t recall any recommendations around changes to the code.
“I think it’s time we learn to work within some of the documents we have, instead of choosing to spend time and money chasing our tail on decisions we’ve made.”
A second motion to direct administration to provide a report recommending amendments to the procedural bylaw for a future committee of the whole meeting passed. Councillors didn’t provide direct areas they wanted to see changed, but CAO Bob Beck said the recent passing of provincial legislation, including Bill 20, would have required changes regardless.
“Bill 20 suggests that we might have to do a bunch of amendments to either-or of these bylaws,” said Beck. “We might get through this and refine it, and then we’re waiting for the regulations to be published in January… we might end up doing this twice.”
Bill 20 will also change the requirements for Code of Conduct bylaws, and the document may be back for review despite the lack of formal instruction for administration. One possibility that has caught the eye of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA — an advocacy group for Alberta’s counties and municipal districts — is the role of an Integrity Commissioner, which would take over code of conduct investigations and determine whether a contravention has occurred.
“Because all municipalities in Alberta should strive to avoid code of conduct complaints and prioritize the development of good governance practices, RMA is intrigued at the possibility of the Integrity Commissioner playing a proactive role by creating resources and direct individual support,” read a briefing document supplied to municipalities.
