Consistent treatment of all council complaints needed
Grumpy Taxpayer$ calls on the City of Victoria and the Capital Regional District to establish a regional integrity commissioner to administer complaints against all mayors and councils.
Victoria council will discuss staff recommendations on a Code of Conduct at its committee-of-the-whole-meeting on Thursday. Staff recommend an independent third party be hired on a piecemeal basis to investigate complaints against council only when the role is needed.
“Codes of conduct with teeth should not be necessary in the best of all possible worlds, but they are,” says John Treleaven, chair of Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria.
“Greater Victoria is one of the country’s largest cities and it’s about time it started acting like one. Instead there are 13 separate fiefdoms and 100 local politicians all going off in different directions.”
A regional integrity commissioner would have the advantage of establishing regional standards and consistency for enforcement and fairness. Costs would be minimal as they would be shared across a region, Treleaven says.
The creation of a regional integrity commissioner office jives with the CRD’s governance committee proposal for a new mission statement for the district: “We are a regional federation working together to serve the public good and plan the future of our livable, sustainable and resilient region. We transcend municipal and electoral area boundaries to deliver services to residents regionally, sub-regionally and locally through an inclusive, efficient and open organization.”
“Shouldn’t any remedy to a code of conduct breach in the region receive consistent treatment and sanctions? asks Treleaven. “The alternative is 13 different responses, if indeed a complaint is even laid, or even dealt with in one jurisdiction.”
Municipalities are bringing in codes of conduct, which was mandated by the province last year, but approaches and details vary across the region.
In Langford, for example, for some reason complaints may not be laid by the public, only among council itself.
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Code of Conduct for Council Members, City of Victoria Staff Report (Item G, July 28, 2023.
Great Idea!