City solicitor to examine task force terms of reference

Questions about potential conflicts of interest involving two members of the Downtown Lawlessness Task Force prompted the Governance Standing Policy Committee of city council on Thursday to direct the City Solicitor to review that body’s terms of reference.

A motion approved 3-1 by the SPC calls for solicitor Brian Loewen to review the terms of reference, the provincial legislation impact on Bylaw 6250 Procedure Bylaw regarding provincial appointees to council’s boards, commissions and committees as well as the procedure bylaw and its provisions “as they relate to the task force and its composition and membership and any other relevant issues and legislation that may be involved and that may arise therefrom” and report back to the Governance SPC on March 28.

After the meeting mayor Blaine Hyggen expressed frustration with the situation.

The task force is trying to address issues in the downtown, he said, and it’s getting great work done, collaborating with partners including the police, fire department the City and the Downtown BRZ.

“And then today it kind of comes to a pause because those that want to stop the good work that’s being done don’t want to be part of the solution but want to remain part of the problem by sitting behind a keyboard and complaining about the great work that’s being done by this committee. That’s the biggest frustration because it’s going to take forever to try to get anything done because of those who are creating roadblocks,” added the mayor.

Hyggen said individuals have been asked to sit on the task force and their invitation refused.

“But they have no problem complaining behind the scenes and it creates issues of trying to create a safe community when we have those who aren’t supportive of the great work being done, especially by this committee.”

Hyggen said trying to get people to sit on boards is difficult. And because of the verbal abuse task force members have to endure, they may be lost.

“It’s already tough to find people to sit on committees and yet the ones that volunteer their times to sit on the committees get ridiculed by the ones that want to sit on their keyboards and complain. And we’re going to end up losing the good volunteers that we have because of that,” said the mayor.

Two members of the public, Yale Belanger and Steven Graham, expressed concerns to the SPC about the terms of reference of the task force. Belanger said Hunter Heggie and Matthew McHugh have conflicts of interest because they are appointees to the both the police commission and the task force, in contravention of bylaws.

Councillor Rajko Dodic, a member of the SPC along with Belinda Crowson, Jenn Schmidt-Rempel and Acting Mayor John Middleton-Hope, told the SPC Belanger and Graham had points on the issues they presented and while he supported the creation of the task force, he wanted it to be properly constituted.

While Loewen is working on the SPC’s request, the task force will continue to operate although its only named members will be Middleton-Hope and mayor Blaine Hyggen. Hyggen said he isn’t sure what’s going to happen with the task force.

It was pointed out during discussion that the task force - a sub-committee of the Safety and Social SPC - has no authority to direct staff to take any action but rather can only make recommendations to the SPC.

Schmidt-Rempel brought up concerns about other potential conflicts of members including several who serve both on the task force and the board of the Downtown Business Revitalization Zone.

They include Kendal Hachkowski, Sheri Kain and Heggie - who is chair of the lawlessness task force.

Dodic, in support of the motion, thanked the presenters.

“Process sometimes can be very boring and difficult to understand but the legalities that were pointed out resonated with me,” Dodic said.

“The presenters made it very clear what their concerns were and bearing in mind that I was a supporter of this task force, I do have some interest in ensuring that we follow the law and ensure it is properly constituted and that it is in line with provincial legislation, our procedural bylaw and if it isn’t, then we will, I’m hoping, we receive from the city solicitor recommendations as to how it can be done to ensure that everything is lawful.

“And if the conclusion is to the contrary, then how we can actually do the task force in a legal fashion which may potentially involve not having certain members on it if in fact the composition is something you just can’t work around.

So the purpose of this is to get the city solicitor to work on it” and give the SPC advice on what the appropriate course of action is, bearing in mind what was brought up by the presenters and the other issues brought up by SchmidtRempel.

Schmidt-Rempel said the presenters were correct in that “we need to be more vigilant to our adherence to the bylaws and acts that we’re governed by.”

Crowson said she couldn’t support the resolution, noting she hasn’t supported the task force from the start for various reasons.

She said she has concern that she sees a lot of City staff in attendance at the task force meetings and “we must be very careful to make sure they’re not being given any direction. They’re only under the operational guidance of the City Manager, they’re not under an SPC or a sub-committee so I want to make sure we’re careful on that.

“I believe there are other ways to achieve; the police commission could be talking about these conversations, it could be held in other places. Task force members could be attending police commission public meetings, having these conversations with them,” she added.

Middleton-Hope supported the resolution saying Dodic made a compelling argument.

“I am provided some important information. I think any time of circumspection at any time is worthwhile.”

He said the task force “is an actionoriented committee, this is a group of individuals who are highly skilled, who are working on some incredibly complex problems in this city. I certainly look forward to any type of information, resources or even support from any member of the public in regards to the work that we’re doing. We’re trying to get the city back under control, we’re trying to get the downtown core cleaned up and we’re trying to deal with lawless behaviour that’s occurring and so anything that can be brought forward in terms of providing support to that I certainly am in support of it.”

In an interview with The Herald after the meeting, Middleton-Hope added,

“It is frustrating that some pseudo intellectuals merely point fingers and assign blame but lack the experience and expertise of professionals dedicated to making this city a better place. The DTLR Task Force is committed to working collaboratively to help solve the many challenges we face in this city.“

Belanger told the SPC the police commission website listed Heggie and McHugh as new members who also serve on the task force.

“Their serving as members of the task force and the police commission contravenes procedure bylaw 6250, section 48 (b) which states that public members may serve only on one board, commission or committee at a time unless council determines that conditions warrant the appointment to more than one board, commission or committee so I’m asking the committee to reflect on their task force appointments,” Belanger said.

He said two arguments “will likely be raised” to explain why council is protected from barring Heggie and McHugh from serving on sub-government task force. One is that bylaw 6250 only applies to city council appointed members, not provincial government appointees and two, procedure bylaw 6250 language is opaque.”

He said the police commission is a statutory body created under the Alberta Police Act and the City of Lethbridge Bylaw 5969 to oversee the city police service. It’s “a creature of local government” as are its members “and thus bound by the city’s bylaw authority,” he added.

He said the task force seeks to identify solutions and assist in implementing strategies identified to create sustainable impact. This means, he said,

“task force members will fashion their preferred intervention strategies after which the two members will promote an agenda of their own making to a police commission of which they’re also members. Two of the nine police commission members will form a fixed and influential voting block. It’s incumbent upon Mr. Heggie and Mr. McHugh, if they haven’t already done so, to declare this potential conflict of interest to the Lethbridge Police Commission so that it may be managed properly,” he added.

Graham said the SPC should acknowledge that the task force was not duly constituted and “that council, if it desires to pursue this course of action, should undertake appropriate consultation with administration, especially the solicitor, to create a task force in an appropriate manner.”

He added that any recommendations arising from the meeting not be part of a consent agenda but be fully debated in public at a council meeting.

He said if the task force was urgent it would have been introduced as an ad hoc committee, rather than a sub-committee “with a clearly defined purpose and a clearly finite lifespan.”

He noted it may not be truly urgent. “It is disappointing to me that it falls to citizens to make sure that council follows its own bylaws yet here we are,” Graham added, who said he believes the task force hasn’t been constituted appropriately under legislation and that council “has violated the code of conduct bylaw in the task force invocation and implementation.”