BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead councillors agreed to follow the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw (Bylaw 3-2017) and asked administration to review the bylaw and its Public and Respectful Workplace Policy (HR-003) during their Oct. 18 organizational meeting.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun said that council approved the bylaw in September 2017, shortly before the province required municipalities to do so under the Municipal Government Act (MGA).
She added the bylaw requires councillors to review the bylaw at the organizational meeting and make a "statement of commitment" to adhere to the bylaw.
"The purpose of the bylaw is to establish rules for all members of council to conduct themselves in a professional, courteous and ethical manner that promotes and maintains public confidence in their ability to perform their functions with integrity," Oyarzun said.
She then walked councillors through each section of the bylaw, a process that took about 45 minutes. Oyarzun then asked if councillors had any concerns or any suggestions to improve the document.
Finally, Oyarzun asked council for permission to review the complaint process.
She said, presently, if the county receives a complaint about a councillor from the public, no matter how minor, the municipality has no option than to start the full investigation process.
Oyarzun used the hypothetical example of a group of individuals speaking to municipal staff at the front counter when a councillor walks by and enters council chambers by slamming the door, resulting in one of the individuals being startled and subsequently dropping and breaking their coffee cup.
"What if the individual made a written complaint against the councillor, demanding the replacement of the coffee cup?" she said. "As it stands, according to our bylaw, I would have to bring it to council."
Admittedly, in her example, Oyarzun said the complaint would go no further but suggested she might be able to tweak the bylaw's wording to handle such instances without having to start the official councillor complaint process.
"A minor infraction like that does not fall under a policy or a bylaw or any other legislation to allow us to handle in some other way without an investigation," she said.
Reeve Doug Drozd agreed, saying there should be another mechanism to handle minor or potential nuisance complaints where a ratepayer that is upset with a council or individual councillor could make a false accusation, "such as a councillor flipped me the bird when driving by me, true or not."
"They could swamp us in paperwork, let alone the money it would cost," he said.
Coun. Paul Properzi asked if Oyarzun needed a motion to allow her to conduct the review.
Oyarzun said no, noting she was just looking for direction from council before proceeding.
Council gave her their unofficial blessing.
Respectful Workplace Policy
Reeve Drozd went on to ask if administration should also review its Respectful Workplace Policy, as there was a similar risk of staff making unwarranted nuisance complaints.
Oyarzun said she does not believe it is necessary as the policy is much more specific with ties to harassment, bullying and violence and has the added weight of provincial legislation behind it, referring to the Alberta Human Rights Act.
Coun. Walter Preugschas suggested that the county might want to institute a whistleblower policy.
"(We put it in at Pembina West Co-op) as a last resort for people who might not be comfortable approaching staff, so they have the option to report something anonymously," he said.
Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz said he believed that option is already available through provincial legislation.
Oyarzun said the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act, was for provincial public employees only.
She added that while some municipalities did have whistleblower policies, she did not think it would be an effective tool for the county.
"Whistleblower policy typically has to do with misappropriation of resources, such as someone taking a work truck home with them when they are not supposed to. (The Respectful Workplace Policy) is legislated, and employees have the responsibility to report (incidents of workplace bullying, harassment, et cetera)," Oyarzun said, noting employees still had the option of reporting something anonymously by "sliding something under her door".
She added that for any respectful workplace policy to work, there has to be a complainant and a respondent.
"Because if someone is complaining about bullying, the person accused must have the opportunity to respond. If it is anonymous, how would that work?" she asked.
Preugschas argued that regardless of whether the complainant was named, whistleblower policies ensure a mechanism is in place to protect that person while an investigation proceeds.
"How would I investigate? I would need a name of someone to reach out to, so I could begin an investigation, " Oyarzun replied.
She added the protections against retaliation and the need for confidentiality are already included in the county's Respectful Workplace Policy.
"I just worry that it wouldn't be fair to the respondent, not knowing who the complainant is," Oyarzun said.
