Minister hopes new legislation will lessen community impact from dysfunctional councils

“It’s a long-standing conversation. Unfortunately, real communities like Kamloops requesting more tools to support their council, to address conflicts as they come up and to help reassure the public about the work that is happening,” Boyle told CFJC News.

After 29 investigations, costing taxpayers just shy of half-a-million dollars, the province’s new legislation hopes to ensure issues never make it that far.

“One of the intentions out of having a clear – not just a mandatory code of conduct, but very clear and structured process – is that it prevents or reduces the kind of drag-on of conflicts that communities like Kamloops have seen,” added Boyle.

The new legislation that is expected to be passed ahead of the October election allows for the maximum penalty of a 90-day unpaid suspension. What it doesn’t include is the possibility of recall.

“That maximum penalty can be repeated at the recommendation of the investigator,” confirmed Boyle. “I suspect we will continue to hear conversation about the need for recall, but we haven’t gone that far in this legislation.”

Kamloops’ CAO Byron McCorkell provided a brief statement to CFJC News, speaking to the abnormally large amount of code of conduct complaints.

“I would say there has been a greater-than-normal number of code of conduct complaints and this creates additional work for staff. Costs are much higher than ever contemplated. For staff, this has added pressure and stress for all involved over and above their normal work,” said McCorkell.

by Michael Reeve

Minister hopes new legislation will lessen community impact from dysfunctional councils

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