Bylaw 4805 is On The Agenda But the Whistleblower Policy is Not
City Council Meeting Tonight
6:30 pm Council Chambers
Kelly here
Code of Conduct Bylaw 4805 is up for 2nd and 3rd reading, it starts on pg 217. This is the bylaw with a clause that allows residents to file complaints about Council Members. It may or may not get passed tonight. There was no discussion on it the last time so Council members may decide to send it back to admin for tweaking.
I’ve been studying Bylaw 4805 over the weekend and found a couple of things.
1 They removed the word bullying and they removed it in such a way you really had to look for it. Check out the screenshots from pgs 90-91 of the Agenda Packet. (Old version Section 8.2 - New version Section 8.1 (b).) Normally they would just strike out the single word and renumber the clauses but they struck out the entire section and rewrote it, mostly word for word.
(NB The discrimination, harassment and confidential information clauses seemed to be lacking until I saw that they’re defined at the beginning of the document instead of the body, it’s merely a formatting change. All the info is still there.)
2 Nowhere in the Code of Conduct Bylaw 4805 does it mention guidelines as to how sanctions should be applied or for how long; it is left to the Council to decide. (I guess they expected Council to be wise in applying sanctions. About that... they’re not showing a great amount of wisdom right now. Maybe they should’ve kept the Public Relations Advisor on staff?) A new clause says the investigator may make recommendations as to what sanctions should be applied but Council is not held to it.
Many residents were outraged when The Mutinous Seven of Council (TMSOC) in its infinite wisdom chose to impart the most severe sanctions they could on Mayor Linnsie Clark for what many people are saying is
the Mayor ‘s (and Council’s) job to hold City Manager Ann Mitchell accountable.
Friday April 5 2024 Alberta Premier Marlaina Danielle Smith weighed in, saying -
“I’ve asked our minister to make sure that we’re looking at the legislation to see if we need to give better guidelines...It really shouldn’t be used as a way of just scoring political points from one council member who disagrees with another.”
Rules are usually only added/changed to a policy when people misuse the policy.
When The Mutinous Seven Of Council imposed the most severe sanctions for asking questions, it makes me wonder - what sanctions would they impose on someone who does any of the following?
Sexual harassment
Blabbing secrets
Discrimination
Assault
Theft
The above actions are a wee bit more more serious than asking questions. The MGA does allow Council to invent more sanctions.
Residents might be a little less pissed if there was a clock on the sanctions or if they had clear conditions for the mayor to be reinstated but TMSOC actually used the term
“At the will of Council”.
(I’ve asked what that means and nobody could give me a good answer.)
Goal setting must be SMART.
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time Bound
This is a very basic management technique. I'm astounded that apparently not one of The Mutinous Seven of Council understands the concept of goal setting.
(Either that or they wanted to make it unachievable. At this point I’m really hoping for ignorance.)
Sanctions are meant to encourage proper behaviour, they’re not meant to be a punishment.
If The Mutinous Seven of Council would explain their decision then the public might understand. However, they’ve chosen to hide behind privacy laws even though Council can vote to make things public. The heavily redacted Kingsgate Report that was released only invokes more questions, chief of which is
What is hidden in the redacted portions?
Who is The Mutinous Seven of Council protecting?
If this was based solely on what happened at the August 21 2023 Shitshow Showdown as the report says then why are all deliberations on this issue private? Is it because other instances were mentioned?
Has anybody else noticed this?
The last name initials of The Mutinous Seven of Council resembles a certain phrase.
dhhk mrv - dick move
Where is the promised Whistleblower Policy? It’s been 2 years and we still have no idea when it is coming to Council. We know what happens when Queen Ann is questioned openly. To not have a whistleblower policy in place means that all constructive criticism is silenced.
What kind of message does that send to City staff?
Knuckle under or we will banish you and take half of your salary
Don’t ask questions or we will banish you and take half your salary
Don’t worry about the Whistleblower Policy; we’ll get around to it in our own sweet time
This only creates an atmosphere of fear. I've already heard from someone who says people are afraid to Speak Up and Speak Out.
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