The township has officially appointed an integrity commissioner through a shared arrangement with five other Wellington County municipalities.
On June 12, Mapleton council approved a recommendation in a report from clerk Barb Schellenberger to appoint Guy Giorno, a consultant with Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, to a four-year term as the integrity commissioner for the township and to proceed with an agreement with the firm for his services.
Under Bill 68, the Modernizing Municipal Legislation Act, all municipalities will be required to appoint an integrity commissioner by March 1.
Previously, municipalities were allowed to opt for the job to default to the provincial Office of the Ombudsman.
Wellington County clerks discussed the appointment of an integrity commissioner last fall and agreed to a joint approach to share the services, similar to the arrangements currently in place with most county municipalities, excluding Mapleton, for a closed meeting investigator.
Mapleton currently uses the ombudsman for closed meeting investigation.
Wellington County council appointed Giorno as integrity commissioner in November.
“Mr. Giorno practices public law with an emphasis on accountability and ethics laws,” stated Schellenber in a report to Mapleton council.
“He has significant experience in public sector ethics, conflict of interest, codes of conduct, accountability legislation, lobbyist registration law and election and election finance law. He also serves as the integrity commissioner for 20 municipalities in Ontario.”
Giorno will be paid $300 per hour for investigations, but will not be on a retainer.
The timeline to start using an integrity commissioner will be different for Wellington municipalities, based on whether a code of conduct is in place.
The county, Minto and Wellington North plan to have a code in place and to appoint an integrity commissioner for March. Mapleton, Centre Wellington, Erin, Guelph-Eramosa and Puslinch all plan an earlier start date, as they have a code of conduct already in place.
In Mapleton, the agreement was set to begin on June 12.
The integrity commissioner will report to council and be responsible for:
– application of the code of conduct for members of council and local boards;
– application of procedures, rules and policies of the municipality and local boards governing the ethical behaviour of members;
– specified provisions of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act;
– requests from members of council and local boards for advice respecting their obligations under the code of conduct;
– requests from council and board members for advice respecting their obligations under a procedure, rule or policy governing ethical behavior or conflicts; and
– provision of educational information to members of council and local boards, the municipality and the public about the code of conduct and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
The report notes integrity commissioners will have new powers to conduct inquiries about whether members have contravened the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
An elector or a person “demonstrably acting in the public interest” could apply to the commissioner for an inquiry and upon completion of an inquiry, a commissioner may forward the matter to court. Costs of applying to a judge will be paid by the municipality.
Integrity commissioners can also conduct an inquiry as they consider necessary, including (into) public meetings, and can elect to exercise powers under the Public Inquiries Act, 2009.
Mapleton council adopted a code of conduct in June of 2013. Adoption of the code was a reaction to two harassment complaints heard by council during the latter part of 2012. At the time, council also directed the CAO to proceed with recruiting a municipal integrity commissioner. However, hiring an integrity commissioner was later delayed as pending provincial legislation on municipal accountability (Bill 68) worked its way through the system.
Councillor Lori Woodham asked if the new legislation would mean Mapleton will be required to review its code of conduct.
“We’re pleased that we are one of the municipalities that have theirs in place, but I know that (in) Bill 68 there’s some requirements that need to be done before March 2019 and I wonder if it might be a good opportunity for us as council to review that code of conduct?” she said.
“We absolutely could. Probably the best time to do that exercise would be in the new term of council,” said CAO Manny Baron.
“So you do feel that we are complaint with Bill 68?” asked Woodham.
“Yes,” Baron replied.
