OLDS — Coun. Mitch Thomson has been appointed to the town’s Code of Conduct Review Ad Hoc Committee (CCRAHC) after being found in breach of that code last year.
Thomson was appointed to the committee, along with fellow councillors Mary Jane Harper, Mary Anne Overwater and the mayor, Mike Muzychka, (sitting ex-officio) when the committee was established earlier this month.
Chief administrative officer Michael Merritt said it’s hoped the committee can begin meeting shortly and provide recommendations on the code to council before a break in council meetings occurs in July.
Last October, the town announced that an independent investigation found Thomson had breached the town's council code of conduct for refusing to take down a Facebook post critical of council and refused to publicly apologize for it when asked to do so by council a few weeks later.
As a result, Thomson lost his spot in the deputy mayor rotation and received a letter of reprimand from town council.
In an email, Thomson was asked if he saw his appointment to the CCRAHC as some kind of rebuke by his fellow councillors regarding the code of conduct violations and censure.
“No,” he replied. “I am not reading anything into this at this time.”
Coun. Wanda Blatz made the suggestion that the three councillors named above sit on the committee.
Blatz said part of her reasoning is that she and a couple of other councillors (along with Muzychka) sat on a previous iteration of that committee and she believes it’s important for all councillors to have a chance to sit on it.
Blatz explained her reasoning behind recommending that Thomson sit on the committee.
“I think this will give Coun. Thomson a good understanding of what the code of conduct bylaw is and how it works and how we came to achieve this bylaw,” she said.
She recommended that Harper sit on it because she, along with Blatz were among the receiving bodies during a code of conduction hearing and as such, Harper “has a good insight into some of the changes that potentially could be made and should be made.”
Blatz said she recommended Overwater also sit on the committee because “Coun. Overwater of course is just always good on whatever committee she happens to be a part of.”
“Thank you, thank you,” said Overwater.
Muzychka thanked Blatz for her recommendations.
“Very well said and very well thought out,” he said.
