Mayor Jeff Genung and Councillor Alex Reed questioned the value of creating a statement of disclosure bylaw for town council members, believing it was redundant, and questioned the motivation behind its creation.

By a 4-2 vote on Nov. 27, town council agreed to have a draft of the bylaw prepared by the end of February 2024 for consideration.

"This is OK, but I don't see a requirement to have it by January 31st," said Councillor Alex Reed, who voted against having it prepared. "I'm not sure why there seems to be a rush. Is there some kind of agenda here? I'm being transparent, can we be clear about what the purpose is?"

Councillor Tara McFadden said she believes the bylaw aligns with governance best practices and helps to build trust in our democratic processes. She says several other municipalities have adopted statement of disclosure bylaws.

"In this current atmosphere that we're dealing with right now with distrust for governments at whatever level, it behooves us to be as transparent as possible," said McFadden in defending her motion. "And this was all really bringing us up to the highest transparency I know of."

It would require council members to file a disclosure statement detailing the names of people, corporations, or partnerships in which they have an interest, and be updated annually.

She says its purpose is to proactively disclose any interest where personal financial interests may conflict with council duties. 

She also believes it's as much an educational piece so council clearly understands what is considered a pecuniary interest by the Municipal Government Act (MGA).

Mayor Genung voted against the motion, believing it's not a pressing priority, nor an issue that is raised with him by residents. 

"I'm not trying to hide anything here, but I just don't understand why this, why now, and what problem are we going to solve with this."

Councillor Marni Fedeyko expressed frustration when town administration declined to read the current wording about a pecuniary interest in town council's code of conduct bylaw, She believed it was necessary to add context to the discussion.

Later, she spoke of how she had been expunged from council discussions when according to Municipal Affairs officials it was inappropriate.

"You can take it any way you want, but I've been asked to recuse by our CAO as well as from our mayor. None of them have been appropriate. They've (Municipal Affairs officials) clearly stated that there is no pecuniary interest as to why you need to refuse, but we can carry on and that conversation is still to be had in the future."

Sections 169 through 173 of the MGA discuss pecuniary interest, with section 171 discussing what should be included in a statement of disclosure bylaw.

Section 171 reads:

Bylaw requiring statement of disclosure

171  A council may by bylaw

(a)  require that each councillor file with a designated officer a statement of the name or names of

(i)  the councillor’s family,

(ii)  the employers of the councillor,

(iii)  each corporation, other than a distributing corporation, in which the councillor is a shareholder, director or officer,

(iv)  each distributing corporation in which the councillor beneficially owns voting shares carrying at least 10 per cent of the voting rights attached to the voting shares of the corporation or of which the councillor is a director or officer, and

(v)  each partnership or firm of which the councillor is a member,

and

(b)  require the designated officer to compile a list of all the names reported on the statements filed with the officer and give a copy of the list to the employees of the municipality indicated in the bylaw.

Sections on the disqualification of councillors follow.

Some Alberta municipalities have a statement of disclosure bylaw. Others rely upon their code of conduct and how the MGA defines pecuniary interest. The MGA cannot be superseded by any municipal bylaw on this or any other matter.

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