With an eye for the future, Council looks to adopt measures on Code of Conduct

Prince Rupert City council would seem to wish to leave a blue print for future municipal council members, with one element of their way forward to bring in a revised and expanded Code of Conduct.

The prospect of such was first noted in mid June, when Councillor Blair Mirau introduced a notice of motion to introduce the theme at the June 28th Session. 

Monday night, Councillor Mirau spoke to his motion and provided a review of  the city's current approach to a Council Code of Conduct and explored some of the mechanisms in place in other communities. 

"I think we want to do more than the bare legislative minimum expectations. The Community Charter is quite broad and quite vague and not very prescriptive when it comes to a lot of the I think most common issues that we've seen being experienced in other municipalities. Which I would say we've largely been spared from but that doesn't mean that we can't learn from other people's mistakes and try to be proactive to avoid, or at least provide a solid framework for us to work within" -- Councillor Blair Mirau

The councillor further outlined how it could be proactive and involve such elements as lobbying, interactions with developers, contractors, tenders, proponents and consultants, as well as to protect confidentiality, avoiding conflict of interest and improper use of influence, the kind of things he noted that could get elected officials into trouble if not they're not paying attention.

He also made note of the possibilities for complaint processes, compliance and enforcement as well as how some municipalities have addressed issues of social media and how statements in social media could be troublesome.

Mr. Mirau then suggested that council could ask the City Manager to come back to the members with a number of different options that may be available to them. Observing that he previously had a lengthy conversation with him about his proposal.

To further his narrative, the Councillor recounted some of the history of Council Codes of Conduct as well as the work of the UBCM on the topic, he suggested that he would like to see it move forward now with the prospect of more development coming to the community and that council should look beyond they own term of council but look forward towards the next council members to come.

"Given where we are in our term, I think it's prudent for us to start now to think beyond ourselves as a Council. So not only do we want to set a framework and set expectations that set us up to avoid these pitfalls that other municipalities have experienced. But also set a firm foundation for that next Council. Cause I know where we are today compared to seven years ago, orientation is going to look a lot longer for the next council than it did for us,  just there's so many moving pieces, so many things to learn" -- Councillor Blair Mirau

Council Nick Adey offered his support towards the initiative noting that the principle of it is important and how the pace of change is accelerating in the community. He also noted that it would be interesting to see how the proposal moves forward and what comes back should Council go down this route and how that will require a vibrant discussion.

Councillor Cunningham also supported the issue, but expressed his concerns over any potential load on the City Manager, who he observed is now doing dual jobs, adding that he believes that the timing is a little off, asking for some more time towards the proposal not wishing to add on to the load of senior staff.  

He further noted that right now he doesn't think the city has a problem at this time and didn't want to put any time constraints on the office of the City Manager to come up with a report right now.

Councillor Mirau countered that commentary noting that he had not placed any timeline on the provision of any report, adding that he had spoken to the City Manager in advance and did not want to be over burdening anyone and noted that in his opinion if the city isn't going to work on a Code of Conduct now, when would they work on one.

He observed that he doesn't think that Council is asking a lot for a report on best practices that have been done elsewhere, adding that the City Manager had not expressed any concerns to him on the topic.

Mayor Brain concurred with Councillor Mirau, noting of his experience over the last seven years and half years and some of the workshops and conversations he has had in the past with other community leaders, noting of the Wild West situation in other  municipalities and how it's difficult to hold councillors accountable in the current framework of the Community Charter.

Towards that theme he observed how he views the Prince Rupert Council as fortunate not to have faced such scenarios with clear divisions among the local officials.

"We're fortunate that we actually operate like a team and we're not like that as a Council, because other Councils, you can have clear divisions on those councils and then people,  those communities are not at service when those councils operate like that" -- Mayor Lee Brain

Mr. Brain then refreshed council's memory on some of the Council's recent achievements such as Redesign and other initiatives. Elements which he observed will serve to set a standard and provide a framework for how they operate with each other,  as well as to provide for clarity and expectations for the councils that will be elected in the future.

Following the conversation the Council then voted to move forward on Councillor Mirau's motion.

You can review the full discussion from the City's Video Archive at the 45 minute mark.

You can review more notes from Monday's Council Session from our Council Timeline Feature.

For more items of note from Council see our Council Discussion archive.