INNISFAIL – Town council is now being “stretched to the limit” by a code of conduct issue and it needs to be probed by an external consultant to determine if there has been any wrongdoing, said Town of Innisfail Mayor Jim Romane.
“In this case we have a code of conduct and its been stretched to the limit and councillor Hill felt it was at the point that it should be considered in our code of conduct as unacceptable,” said the mayor. “Let’s have a third opinion, have a person evaluate it and they will tell us whether they feel there is some wrongful doings. We will all be interviewed, and this person will make a judgment and come back to council with a recommendation.”
Romane made his comments last week following council’s closed in-camera meeting held immediately after council’s regular meeting on Oct. 26.
Just before the conclusion of the regular meeting, Coun. Donnie Hill asked to make a motion that council retain an external consultant to conduct an investigation of council’s “ongoing” code of conduct issues.
“It comes with a hard discussion,” said Hill, adding it would be held privately in-camera. Coun. Glen Carritt then asked if this would be at a cost to the town. Hill said yes but it would be “the best and most fair and equitable way” for everyone involved.
However, external probes into breaches of municipal council codes of conduct bylaws can be costly. The Town of Olds just spent approximately $27,000 for an investigation into the conduct of first-term Coun. Mitch Thomson.
As the in-camera meeting was held “confidentially” behind closed doors, with its contents not accessible to the public or media, specific details are not available. However, both Romane and Hill said the following day there was unanimous approval by all members of council to hire an external consultant to investigate whether there has been a code of conduct breach.
The Town of Innisfail’s Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, the first of its kind ever brought forward for the community, was passed in 2018.
It was initiated after the passage of the modernized provincial Municipal Government Act that required all municipal governments to have one.
The municipal legislation outlines in detail the expectations of elected officials when representing their town, on communicating on behalf of their municipality, on respecting the decision-making process, on having respectful interactions with other council members, staff and the public, as well as dealing with confidential information.
Following the in-camera meeting both Hill and Romane said the central issue of the probe would be around communication and the way it has been done by the community’s elected officials.
“Yes, the abnormality of the flow of information - communication is probably the biggest concern. It’s not going through proper channels and discussions are going around the people that should be involved in the discussions,” said Romane. “It makes it hard for administration to solve problems if councillors are going and having separate conversations with the same people. You just got to get everybody on line. It’s right in our code of conduct not to interfere with administration’s job to get information for us.”
Hill said the initiative to have an external investigation was not made from a formal complaint to the town. He added council members have to hold themselves to a “higher standard” and right now, he added, there are a “few” issues that need to be dealt with in relation to its code of conduct.
“There is always going to be some communication breakdowns. There is always going to be minute issues when you are dealing with seven different people within the community that are not always going to have their exact ideals aligned,” said Hill, agreeing there is a sense of “urgency” the issue be dealt with immediately. “With so much going on we have to address it sooner than later because obviously having public confidence is something we pride ourselves in, and I don’t ever want to lose that so I would prefer to deal with the issues at hand before they become potentially a bitter issue.”
Todd Becker, the town’s chief administrative officer, said he would be approaching three different consultants to determine interest and availability to conduct the investigation. He said he would be helping council select the appropriate consultant, and the best timelines will be selected.
Both Romane and Hill said they want the results of the investigation released to the public, emphasizing the probe is being financed by taxpayer money, as well as public’s expectation of transparency.
“I do feel taxpayers should know what they are paying for,” said Hill.
“It would be done in a professional and respectful manner and there is no question to the outcome because it can not be perceived with bias or any prejudice; it would be a completely neutral third party to address the issues.”
