BANFF – Banff’s elected officials have made changes to a recommendation in a proposed bylaw amid concerns it gave administration too much authority.
Administration had suggested the proposed new procedures bylaw include a section that input of administration should be considered when making motions, and that motions be put in writing ahead of time, to ensure that any legal, financial, and operational impacts are professionally addressed.
But Coun. Grant Canning felt it was too much administrative overreach, and in the end, council unanimously decided to tone down the wording to give more leeway to elected officials.
“You’re diving into this realm of administration directing council to do things, and I think there is some concerns around that,” he said.
Libbey McDougall, municipal clerk for the Town of Banff, said the goal was to ensure that concise, well thought out and unambiguous motions are presented at meetings.
She said the advice of administration should be considered when crafting motions, whenever possible, to ensure that any legal, financial and operational impacts are professionally addressed.
“This comes into play particularly when we’re deciding to spend some money and one other thing I know you’ve all heard me say, ‘where is that money coming from?’” she said.
“In your motion, you have to dictate where that money is coming from, which is a great reason to sit and talk to administration about how to go forward with this because we need a funding resource.”
Mayor Corrie DiManno preferred the wording to say ‘may’ rather than ‘should’.
She said she understands that administration is trying to get a heads up that the motion is within certain boundaries, such as legal, financial and professional.
“For any councillor that may feel it’s ‘thou shalt’, if we changed it to ‘may’ then that gives leeway that you don’t have to do this,” she said.
“It’s good for efficiency and doing the scan, but it’s not set in stone that you have to do this.”
Canning said personal experience has shown him that sometimes motions are made on the fly coming out of debate and discussion.
“Over the years most of the motions I’ve made have not been something I’ve thought about in advance, but actually something that’s come out of debate that we’re having,” he said.
“It’s pretty rare for me historically to have something in my head written down in advance to provide to administration. I do have some concerns around that.”
McDougall said particularly in the digital age, it is important to be able to show complete motions on the screen in council chamber for council to vote on.
“There has obviously been instances where we do motions on the fly and I have asked you to slow down, so I can get it, and asked you not to call a vote until we can get the motion up so you can all see,” she said.
Coun. Chip Olver said in the past, while infrequent, council has been able to ask administration to get legal counsel on a motion when needed during a break or at a future meeting if the issue is not timely.
“There are ways that it has been handled in the past and can continue to do so,” she said.
The procedural bylaw will come back to council for consideration of three readings and final approval.
