PRINCE GEORGE – Council has approved a review of how Council addresses senior staff at the City
“The relationship between Council and staff is critical to good governance,” stated Councillor Brian Skakun, one of the authors of the original motion along with Councillor Trudy Klassen.
Specifically, the Motion reads:
“The City of Prince George has no formal written publicly available policy that deals with how staff, mayor and council interact in public and in private. The public should have full trust in the transparency of Council and administration when dealing with various local government matters. Individual councillors must have the same administrative information when making collective decisions around the council table. There are no clear guidelines for elected officials with how they informally communicate with staff whether it be through emails, text messages, phone calls, personal visits in their offices and such. Staff and the senior management team also need to be protected from an elected official exerting possible undue influence or pressure on them for personal or professional gain.”
“I wouldn’t pop into a director’s office,” noted Skakun.
But it was also noted the City is undertaking a review of its Council Code of Conduct and whether this policy could incorporated into that new revision has yet to be determined.
“Are we putting the cart before the horse,” noted Councillor Cori Ramsay, who was the lone dissenter of the motion.
“We don’t want to stifle the exchange of information between Council and senior staff,” said City Manager Walter Babicz.
