The need for Rocky View County council to amend the function of GPC certainly appears as though it didn’t think through the consequences of its decision – despite having reassured residents just last week the sanctions imposed on three councillors would not prevent them from fulfilling their duties. The move indicates a direct violation of the Municipal Government Act that council needed to fix retroactively.
According to a statement from Reeve Boehlke, council decided on those sanctions with legal help – carefully, to make sure it didn’t “[step] over a line.” It’s hard to believe, during that process, no one thought to address the fact that by denying the sanctioned councillors the opportunity to serve on committees, they were essentially preventing them from participating in any policy-related discussions and decisions.
Whether or not you believe council was right in enforcing its Code of Conduct, you should be shocked it would move forward with such strict disciplinary measures before fully considering the implications of those actions. We rely on our elected officials to thoughtfully investigate all the potential impacts of a decision prior to making it – but it looks like council was so eager to restrict the influence of these three councillors, that important responsibility was ignored.
We also depend on council to be truthful. If the need for this amendment was known sooner, it would have been nice to have seen more transparency – instead of assurances that turned out to be false.
Residents deserve elected officials who are both honest and diligent, but it looks like with this council, we're getting one or the other.
