New conflict of interest rules ‘handcuffing’ councils, says deputy mayor

Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury council voted to use Simcoe County’s integrity commissioners, as well as look into getting another one

by: Jenni Dunning Bradford Today

Changes under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act are “handcuffing” local council members, said Bradford West Gwillimbury Deputy Mayor James Leduc.

Under the new rules, council members must declare a conflict of interest anytime an organization with which they are involved, even as a volunteer, is being discussed at council level.

As a member of the Bradford Lions Club, that means Leduc can no longer vote on matters related to the club, even if he, personally, does not benefit financially from a decision.

“There’s more rules to handcuff us like you wouldn’t believe. It’s ridiculous,” he said during a council meeting Tuesday evening. “I was advised by the lawyers up at the county I cannot vote on a Lions issue. It’s just taking power away from councils.”

Leduc said residents have the power to send a message if council members are doing something wrong by voting them out.

“It’s gotten, in my mind, way out of hand,” he said, of the new municipal rules. “They’re just handcuffing (us).”

Leduc brought up the issue during a discussion about the appointment of an integrity commissioner, which is required under the Municipal Act.

The County of Simcoe appointed two lawyers, Jeffrey Abrams and Janice Atwood-Petkovski, from Principles Integrity as integrity commissioners, and it is offering to pay the $1,000 annual retainer cost of them for all county municipalities, read a report submitted to council.

Individual municipalities are in charge of covering all other costs, such as getting advice from the integrity commissioners, conducting investigations, or providing training.

“We don’t want to fool ourselves that this won’t cost us very much,” said Mayor Rob Keffer.

As well, according to the town report, integrity commissioner duties are “conflicting in nature” because they must provide advice to council on members’ obligations under a code of conduct, as well as complete inquiries if necessary about whether a council member has violated the same code of conduct.

With that in mind, council also approved a town staff recommendation to look into getting a second integrity commissioner and report back to council with details at a later time.