BANFF – Council may end up pursuing options to make sure Banff councillors are more accountable when it comes to attending boards and committees to which they are appointed.
A memo presented to the governance and finance committee on March 11 showed Coun. Ted Christensen did not attend several meetings he had been appointed to as a council representative from July 1 to Oct. 31 last year, including Banff Heritage Corporation, Banff Public Library board and a library sub-committee.
Coun. Barb Pelham raised the issue of attendance, saying attending none of the the seven meetings for those committees during that time period is “horrendous”.
“I am troubled by the attendance of one of our councillors, and I think most of us work really hard to be present and to prepare and to contribute to these meetings,” she said.
Administration presents a bi-annual update of council member attendance of council meetings, boards, commissions, committees, corporations and external agencies.
The next information memo will be presented at the end of June, which will report on council attendance from Nov. 1, 2023 until May 31, 2024.
Christensen was not present during the March 11 meeting because he was attending the Alberta Seniors & Community Housing Association’s 2024 convention in Calgary; however, he said he watched the meeting via video later.
Christensen said he was surprised the issue was brought up, adding he takes his role as a councillor seriously and does his best to attend all meetings.
However, he said he was travelling in the Mediterranean for 54 days in late September, October and into early November.
“With the library board, I have some difficulty because they were evening meetings,” he said, noting he received a thank-you letter from the library when his term was up last October.
“I missed a couple that I wouldn’t ordinarily have, but I had other arrangements in the evenings.”
In addition, Christensen said he let the mayor and administration know ahead of time about his trip to the Mediterranean.
“It was a decision I made not without considerable thought, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity,” he said, noting it was a once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunity.
Pelham said she is interested in looking at the code of conduct bylaw, pointing to two sections that vaguely speak to the responsibilities of councillors in this particular area.
She said councillors must perform their duties in a conscientious manner with integrity, accountability and transparency, while another section indicates they make every effort to participate diligently in council meetings, council committees and other bodies to which they are appointed by council.
“We’ve all signed off on this code of conduct. We’ve all read it thoroughly. We’ve discussed it thoroughly, so maybe we could collectively articulate what that expectation is and clarify it further,” said Pelham.
“I don’t think it’s something to take lightly.”
Coun. Hugh Pettigrew said he was reluctant to talk about the matter with only four of seven councillors present at the March 11 governance and finance committee meeting.
“I think there’s certainly an expectation to attend but I think it’s premature to start this now… I think we need to ensure that everybody has their say on this,” he said.
Pettigrew, who sat on the 2021 council remuneration committee as a public member, said some other municipalities pay per diem rates for councillors to attend meetings to which they’ve been appointed, as opposed to wrapping it up into the overall salary.
“The point I am trying to make is you go the meeting, you get paid; you don’t go to the meeting, you don’t get paid,” he said.
“I think that would be something we should consider at some point when we review our whole structure.”
Coun. Kaylee Ram was on parental leave throughout this reporting period.
The issue of attendance will be discussed again at council’s next meeting on Monday, (March 25).
