Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill raises a valid concern over the amount of taxpayers’ money — over $10,000 — spent on the recent Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) conference, but the three councillors who attended don’t deserve to be vilified for it.
The inflated costs are due in large part to the fact that conference registrations and accommodations weren’t booked earlier; an oversight not likely to be repeated, given the resulting controversy.
Councils across the province often debate the value of attending the annual AUMA conference. Its advocates say the conference provides important educational and networking opportunities, particularly for first-time councillors. Its detractors argue that the costs of attending far outweigh the benefits. Both perspectives are valid and appropriate for debate.
However, there’s a time for debate and a time for decision. In this case, the decision was already made: council authorized the three councillors’ attendance at the conference during their October organizational meeting; if there were concerns about the value of the conference, the time to present them was then, not after the fact.
Council is free to annually debate the merits of the AUMA conference if they so wish, and crafting policy to set parameters for related expenses would also be a prudent move. Even Morrill’s reminder that councillors should be frugal with their expense claims is generally sound advice.
But the three councillors who attended the AUMA conference did so with council’s official blessing, and by no means were they irresponsible or frivolous with taxpayers’ money.
The only just decision council can make is to authorize the expense claims and chalk it up as a learning experience.
