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CVRD considers ethics commissioner for elected officials

Commissioner would deal with internal complains regarding board members
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Aaron Stone, chair of the Cowichan Valley Regional District, said he hopes the district won’t need an ethics commissioner to deal with complaints regarding its elected officials but, in today’s political climate, it may be needed. (Citizen fIle photo)

The Cowichan Valley Regional District is considering appointing an ethics commissioner, who would be a neutral and independent officer that oversees the conduct of the district’s elected officials.

The issue was discussed at a meeting of the CVRD’s governance committee that was held on March 22 as part of an ongoing process to renew and revise the district’s code of conduct for members of the board.

Barbra Mohan, the CVRD’s general manager of corporate services, told the committee that the revised draft code of conduct for elected officials is strongly modelled on the City of Nanaimo’s code, which allows for the appointment of an ethics commissioner when there are complaints regarding that city’s council members.

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She said the process to get both the complainant and the respondent to agree on who will review and investigate a complaint can take a long time, so it may be advantageous to identify in advance and appoint an ethics commissioner, so when complaints arise under the code of conduct, that step is already taken care of.

“Usually, an ethics commissioner is someone who is either currently, or in the past, has practiced as a labour lawyer, or an arbitrator, or a mediator and that person has usually put themselves out there in service to investigations such as this,” Mohan said.

“This is someone who could be identified in advance and held on a contract on an as-needed basis so they would only be engaged in work when, and if, there was a complaint underway.”

Mohan said the CVRD’s revised draft code of conduct for elected officials, with the inclusion of the appointment of an ethics commissioner, is a more detailed document than the code the CVRD currently operates under, but she thinks it reflects the evolution of codes of conduct which have become a hot topic over the last four years, and it reflects the evolution of the need for more detail on procedure and for potential consequences.

Cobble Hill director Mike Wilson asked about the process if and when a member of the public makes a complaint regarding elected officials.

Mohan replied that the revised draft code of conduct under discussion is only for elected officials in terms of their dealings with staff, other elected officials and appointees of the CVRD’s various commissions.

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She said it doesn’t govern the conduct of elected officials with the public.

“The reason for that is that the avenues for complaint and resolutions when the public has issues with the behaviour of elected officials are not ones that are in the jurisdiction of the CVRD to hear or decide,” Mohan said.

“So currently, if a member of the public has an issue with elected officials, there are a number of different provincial offices they can contact. They include the Inspector of Municipalities, Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Ombudsperson, Office of the Auditor General and they can also go through the courts and the police.”

CVRD Chair and Ladysmith Mayor Aaron Stone said he hopes the district won’t need to have an ethics commissioner but, considering what is happening in other jurisdictions, it’s sad the CVRD may have to consider it.

He said that in today’s political climate, there seems to be more patterns of behaviour by elected officials that may warrant it.

“While I was researching other codes of conduct, news articles kept coming up all over the province and I’ve even seen some commentaries stating that municipal councils are crazier than ever, or something to that effect,” Stone said.

“Thankfully, I feel that, here, we’re going in the other direction and trying to work more collaboratively and this is just more of a back stop as a protection for everyone involved.”

Stone added that he likes the informal process that the district currently has to deal with these issues and, hopefully, an informal process where there’s dialogue and discussions would ultimately be the outcome of any complaints regarding elected officials, with no need of an ethics commissioner.



robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com

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