Code of conduct created to keep municipal administrators accountable

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This article was published 06/04/2024 (523 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A rural municipality is allegedly bilked of a half-million dollars by its then-chief administrative officer.

A judge orders a former Winnipeg CAO to pay more than $1 million to the city because he accepted a bribe connected to the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project.

These two incidents are part of the reason the Manitoba Municipal Administrators organization has not only created a new professional code of conduct for its members, but also set up a formal complaint process and enforcement policy.

Duane Nicol, the MMA’s president and CAO of the City of Selkirk, said while the changes may not prevent issues such as what happened in the Municipality of Gilbert Plains and Winnipeg, it will help make administrators more accountable to standards and ethical conduct.

“Manitoba citizens entrust administrators with the management of their communities and the health and safety of their families,” Nicol said Friday.

“This is (a) sacred trust and a great responsibility. We are stepping up, not only by strengthening our professional standards, but also providing a framework to hold members accountable to those standards.”

Last year, the Municipality of Gilbert Plains launched a lawsuit against former CAO Amber Fisher, alleging she made repeated unauthorized fund transfers between 2020 and 2021.

The statement of claim filed in Court of King’s Bench accused Fisher of making 33 electronic transfers from the municipality’s account to her own for a total of more than $516,000.

No statement of defence has been filed, but the municipality has since been granted a default judgment and is working to collect the losses.

Meanwhile, last year former Winnipeg CAO Phil Sheegl lost his appeal of a court ruling that not only found he favoured a contractor in the tendering process to build the police headquarters downtown inside the former Canada Post building and mail-sorting plant, but also accepted a bribe from the contractor.

Sheegl has been ordered to pay back the city more than $1 million, including $327,200 plus interest, representing repayment of the bribe, as well as his $250,000 severance package, plus interest.

Among the 21 statements in the MMA’s new code of conduct are for administrators to “demonstrate integrity and the highest standards of ethical behaviour” and “shall not leverage their position for personal gain or benefit.”

Nicol said while the MMA doesn’t have the power of a regulatory body — such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba or the Law Society of Manitoba — to discipline and potentially take away members’ ability to practise, the changes will ensure there are consequences for breaches.

“Before, we didn’t have a way of holding our members accountable,” he said. “Now we can revoke their membership. By being stripped of your status as a member, this would be a signal this is not a person you should hire.”

Michael Jack, Winnipeg’s current CAO, said he is pleased with the MMA’s code and what it aims to do.

“I think this new program, much like the other continuing education and development offered through the MMA, will undoubtedly raise the bar in a positive way for how municipal administrators carry out their functions across the province,” Jack said.

“I certainly welcome it, and appreciate the role the MMA is playing to improve the quality of service we are all providing to the residents of our respective municipalities.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca