Newmarket council approves new code of conduct

yorkregion.com
March 3, 2016
By Chris Simon

Newmarket has taken a few steps to become more accountable.

Council approved a new Code of Conduct and appointed North York firm ADR Chambers as the municipality’s ombudsman, during a meeting Monday night.

The code is an update to an existing document and is an attempt to set standards that prevent politicians from using town resources or their positions as elected representatives, for private or political advantage.

As part of that update, council members will not be allowed to accept gifts, except under specific circumstances. They’ve also placed a 60-day timeframe on the filing of integrity commissioner complaints and established rules around charitable fundraising and the disclosure and dissemination of information over social media.

“Not only did we not have references to social media in the previous code but, prior to the last term of office, while having a code, we never had a single integrity commissioner complaint or investigation in Newmarket,” Regional Councillor John Taylor said. “Things are changing rapidly and that causes us to spend more time in this area. We have a much stronger document and much clearer guidelines for everyone involved. Do we have a perfect document? That’s impossible, but this addresses some very important issues.”

Significant consultation took place during the development of the updated code and the next term of council may consider setting up an accountability and transparency committee, deputy town clerk Lisa Lyons said during a debate on the code last week.

Mayor Tony Van Bynen says council can focus on other priorities now.

“We’ve made very substantial progress here. We have just over a thousand days left in this term of office. We have a number of very significant projects ahead of us. We want to balance our priorities. A lot of hard work has (already) gone into this,”  he said.

The ombudsman will receive, review and investigate transparency and accountability related complaints. The identity of complainants and specifics in an investigation will be kept confidential unless disclosure is considered a necessary part of a decision and recommendations. The ombudsman will remain at arms-length from the town, but will provide periodic updates resulting from investigations and annual reports.

“An ombudsman will direct complainants to follow any policies and protocols established by the municipality first, before becoming involved as an ‘office of last resort’,” town clerk Andrew Brouwer said. “The town is continuously working to provide a transparent, accountable and extraordinary public service by looking for new ways to improve the quality of administration. An appointed ombudsman provides an independent review of complaints, ensuring residents continue to receive high-quality services. (It also) provides the town valuable feedback for continuous improvement.”

By selecting ADR, the town is also piggybacking on a co-operative purchasing agreement offered by York Region. The region appointed ADR as its ombudsman in December. ADR handles about 20,000 mediations and more than 5,000 arbitrations annually.

York has agreed to cover the cost of a $12,000 annual retainer. However, the town or Newmarket Hydro would be responsible for a $250-per-hour service fee, once a complaint against their respective jurisdiction is investigated. “My single greatest concern is that we could have one or two residents of Newmarket, and certainly there’s reason to believe that could occur, that might be fond of appeal mechanisms and could drive great cost,” Taylor said. “One person could bring forward 15 or 20 complaints. At $250 an hour, who knows what that could cost?”

Taylor suggested council could review the plan in one year.