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Forging the Path to Responsible Conduct in Your Local Government
A new resource released by the Working Group on Responsible Conduct (WGRC) provides guidance on ways to prevent conduct issues by local elected officials and options to address them if they do arise. Forging the Path to Responsible Conduct in Your Local Government
provides advice on fostering responsible conduct, maintaining good governance and resolving conduct issues for elected officials on Councils and Boards. It also includes considerations for local governments that may be exploring an enforcement process within their existing Code of Conduct.
Enforcement processes within a code of conduct are a relatively new practice in B.C., and the guide draws on examples from local governments that have included enforcement in their codes to highlight both current practice and considerations a local government may wish to evaluate as it begins to design its own enforcement process. In addition to consultations both with local government staff and elected officials, the guide was informed by discussions with legal experts experienced in responsible conduct matters.
Chief Administrative Officers and their Corporate Officers are encouraged to explore this new resource and take advantage of the practice guidelines and tips to engage with and support their elected officials in proactively encouraging informal approaches to conflict resolution and to ensure responsible conduct and, when that is not possible, to consider administratively fair enforcement options to hold elected officials accountable for their conduct.
For more information or support, please contact Nancy Taylor, Executive Director, ntaylor@lgma.ca
The Working Group on Responsible Conduct (WGRC), a joint initiative by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, the Local Government Management Association of British Columbia (LGMA), and the B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The staff-level Working Group undertakes collaborative research and policy work on the issue of responsible conduct of local government elected officials.
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