Rocky View County (RVC) council has initiated a lobbying effort to see the Alberta government add steps to address conflicts between elected officials in the province.
At a regular meeting Sept. 22, council voted unanimously to submit a resolution regarding the process of resolving sanctions and disqualifications to the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) to be considered at its 2020 Fall Convention.
“We could have probably avoided a lot of legal bills,” said Deputy Reeve Al Schule, who made the motion. “If the Municipal Government Act (MGA) states that we need to have a code of conduct and someone has a violation, the minister’s office should be able to decide. Why do we need to go to court?”
According to Ben Manshanden, RVC's Intergovernmental Affairs co-ordinator, the resolution approved by council proposed a simplified, intermediary process be developed by Alberta’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs to enable the minister to mediate on councillor sanctions and disqualifications.
“Under the current process, if alleged code of conduct violations or councillor disqualifications are disputed and cannot be resolved internally, the parties have no course but to resort to legal action which is costly, time-consuming and combative,” Manshanden said.
The creation of a conflict resolution process would allow an extra step before legal action becomes necessary, he said.
The resolution, included in council’s agenda report, said minor amendments to the MGA would clarify the minister’s authority and allow for the creation of a streamlined process to mediate on council sanctions and the removal of disqualified councillors.
“The process could be used by either the affected councillor or the council to oppose or enforce a sanction,” the resolution stated.
For example, if a sanctioned councillor disagrees with the sanctions that have been imposed, they could make a case to Municipal Affairs to review the circumstances.
“The minister would then have the option of upholding, removing or amending the sanctions,” the resolution said.
According to Chief Administrative Officer Al Hoggan, after the resolution is submitted to RMA, it will be discussed at the association's Resolutions Committee meeting. If approved by that committee, it will be brought to the RMA’s 2020 Fall Convention. RMA member municipalities would then vote on the resolution and, if approved, the process of lobbying the province would begin.
Couns. Kevin Hanson, Samanntha Wright, and Crystal Kissel commended administration for creating the resolution. Hanson called it "a great step forward."
“I like the fact that it isn’t too prescriptive, it just asks them to get involved,” Wright said. “This is a great piece of work.”
RVC’s current council has not been without the types of conflicts and dispute the resolution seeks to address. In June 2019, Kissel, Hanson and Wright were sanctioned by council for allegedly breaching RVC’s Code of Conduct. In August of that year, they applied to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta to have the sanctions overturned. After a lengthy court battle, Justice James Eamon set aside the sanctions in July, and council voted to file a Notice of Appeal on the court’s ruling in August.
Meanwhile, council sought Wright’s dismissal twice earlier this year. In January, council voted to apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench to have Wright disqualified following a legal opinion that she violated pecuniary interest rules in the MGA by voting on a conceptual scheme and land use re-designation immediately adjacent to her property.
The second call for dismissal came the following week at a special council meeting when council voted for Wright's disqualification for failing to pay taxes.
In both cases, Wright refused to resign.
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
