Chestermere City Council is starting to make progress on completing the Minister of Municipal Affairs directives issued on March 15, based on the findings of the municipal inspection report.
At the March 28 regular council meeting, councillors carried various motions directing administration to start the process of fulfilling the directives issued by the Minister of Municipal Affairs Rebecca Schulz.
Municipal Affairs directed the chief administrative officers (CAOs) to provide a report listing all code of conduct complaints since Oct. 21, 2021.
The list must include reports, records, and all documents detailing the description of the complaint, the decision for making a determination on the validity of the complaint, and a description of how each complaint was addressed and investigated.
“We’re instructing administration in moving forward with regards to the directives that have been provided by the minister,” Mayor Jeff Colvin said. “We’re instructing them to assemble, that will come to councillors, then send it to municipal affairs.”
Council carried a motion directing city administration to assemble all code of conduct complaints, present them to council for review, then submit the records to municipal affairs.
Council and the CAOs were directed to conduct the procurement of an independent third party through a competitive procurement process, ensuring the individual has municipal experience, and is not currently employed by the city.
Council directed administration to proceed in retaining an independent third-party investigator through a competitive procurement process and bring the recommendations for the individual back to council for a decision.
Schulz directed council to retain an experienced municipal consultant, who is not currently employed by the city, to provide advice and guidance in developing protocols to address intra-council conflict and promote collaborative governance.
City administration was directed by council to recommend an independent third party to develop protocols for intra-council conflict, and bring the recommended individual to council for decision, and schedule a workshop for councillors to attend.
Council was directed to develop and complete a strategic plan, approved by council resolution, to provide guidance for the municipality.
The plan must include tasks to be performed by councillors, opportunities for input and participation from councillors, and public input through the development process.
Council directed city administration to schedule the workshop to complete the strategic plan by the end of May.
All members of council were directed to attend a roles and responsibilities workshop conducted by municipal affairs.
Council carried a motion to schedule the workshop at the earliest possible date.
Council was directed to work with administration to hire an audit firm. The requested proposal for the audit firm will be presented to council for decision.
The CAOs were directed to provide municipal affairs with a list of all municipal land sales since October 2021, including the market values, the date when the market value was determined, associated advertisements, associated council resolutions, the sale price, the sale date, and purchaser identity.
City administration will assemble a list of all municipal land sales since October 2021, and present the list to council by the end of April.
The full inspection report, and all of the ministers directives can be found on the government of Alberta website.
