MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - County council has approved changes to the municipality’s Council Code of Conduct bylaw, which sets out rules for councillor activities.
The move came by way of motion at the Aug. 16 council meeting.
Bylaw No. 7/18 Council Code of Conduct was originally passed in June 2018 in response to amendments to the provincial Municipal Government Act (MGA). Administration recently reviewed the bylaw and recommended a number of amendments.
Changes now made are in several sections of the bylaw.
An amendment to the Improper Use of Influence section states, in part, that “Councillors shall refrain from any type of management of employees, including providing direction to an employees, advocating for the promotion, sanction or termination of an employee, or discussion on the performance of an employee except where it relates to the authority under the MGA that council, acting as a whole, has to enact, manage and evaluate the chief administrative officer.”
The amended complaint hearing process section states, “The complaint hearing board shall provide a report to council in closed section that outlines their findings as to whether the complaint, or a portion of the complaint, constitutes a breach of the bylaw. Further if the report finds that a breach did occur, the complaint hearing board shall include a recommended sanction for council’s consideration.”
Another change to the same section states, that, “If upon reviewing the complaint the complaint hearing board determines that there may be a potential breach of provincial or federal law, the complaint hearing board shall forward any relevant information to the appropriate authority.”
The complete updated Code of Conduct is available for viewing on the county’s website.
