Irricana council gave first and second reading to an ethics bylaw that encompasses staff, administration and council at its regular meeting on Sept. 21.
During the previous council meeting on Sept. 8, a motion was made requesting administration draft a bylaw for council, staff and administration and amend the current ethics policy to only include volunteer committee members.
Geoff Stephenson, Irricana’s chief administrative officer, advised council to delay a third reading on the bylaw and make any changes effective for the next organizational committee meeting on Oct. 19.
“There is very rarely a need to do all three (readings),” Stephenson said.
“You can wait (and) many people have waited months.”
Council agreed to delay third reading and make any decisions effective Oct. 19, but Deputy Mayor Dennis Tracz made an additional motion requesting that delay not be too long and the bylaw be brought back for third reading at the next council meeting.
“I want to close this off,” Tracz said.
“We’ve messed around with this policy enough, so I want this on the next agenda.”
The first and second reading passed with all councillors in favour except Lora Peterson, who said she was concerned the bylaw was missing some components while also being overwritten.
“I find it too much,” Peterson wrote in an email. “I think it can be paired down and made more user friendly.”
She vocalized a concern in 4.4 Acceptance of Gifts Prohibited section including 4.4.8, which specified council shall return any gift or benefit that exceeds the limit of “an incident of protocol or social obligation that normally and reasonably accompany the responsibility of office,” but the bylaw did not specify exactly what that limit is.
She also wanted to see a 4.4.9 added that allows the acceptance of gifts in accordance to the birth of a child, wedding or birthday.
“All of our bylaws and policies are just, I think, ridiculous,” Peterson said. “They’re not the best I’ve ever seen.”
Council also passed another motion requesting administration review the changes proposed by Peterson prior to a third reading scheduled for next council meeting.
