Staff Report: DRAFT AMENDMENT TO OATH OF OFFICE BYLAW NO. 901, 2014
A report regarding proposed updates to the Town's Oath of Office bylaw to include references to the recently adopted Code of Conduct.
TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL COUNCIL REPORT
TO: Council DATE: June 14, 2022 FROM: S. Jones, Director of Corporate Administration MEETING: June 21, 2022
DRAFT AMENDMENT TO OATH OF OFFICE BYLAW NO. 901, 2014
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the report dated June 14, 2022 from the Director of Corporate Administration titled “Draft Amendment to Oath of Office Bylaw No. 901, 2014” be received.
CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER’S COMMENTS:
I concur with the recommendation.
PURPOSE OF REPORT:
To present a draft amendment bylaw to the Town’s current “Oath of Office” bylaw.
TIME CRITICAL:
Consideration of a new “Oath of Office” is timely given that successful candidates in the October 2022 elections will need to take their oath of office at the inaugural Council meeting set for November 1, 2022.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
The Town adopted a new Oath of Office Bylaw in 2014 (Bylaw No. 901), replacing Oath of Office Bylaw No. 807.
Bylaw No. 901 was developed to emphasize the powers and responsibilities of the office and reflect the values and priorities of the community. The Bylaw strengthened accountability of elected officials to the electors yet retained the legalistic elements (covering items like elections, conflict of interest, and in-camera matters) all while shifting the language of the Oath to a more colloquial tone.
In November 2021, the Town’s Code of Conduct was adopted by Council. To recognize the significance of the Code and elected officials’ commitment to the Code’s standards of responsible conduct, it is proposed that section b.) of the Oath of Office be amended to now reference the Code of Conduct.
A second change is proposed in section d.) of the Oath of Office to improve the sentence structure. The message of d.) is not altered with the proposed amendment.
The proposed amendment bylaw is provided as Attachment “A” to this report and new content/changes are shown in bold, highlighted font in Schedule “A”. A “clean” copy of the proposed amendment bylaw’s Schedule “A” is provided on a separate page for ease of reading.
BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:
There are no budget implications related to this initiative.
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the report dated June 14, 2022 from the Director of Corporate Administration titled “Draft Amendment to Oath of Office Bylaw No. 901, 2014” be received for information.
SUBMITTED BY: S. Jones, Director of Corporate Administration
REVIEWED BY: K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer
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