Earlier this month council skirted around the issue of whether one of their own was in a conflict of interests regarding a matter before them. They didn’t directly address the question and while there was no money involved in their decision, the potential problem is how council and staff handled the question of a conflict of interest.
The matter revolved around a non-profit’s request to have the city waive building permit fees on a low-income housing project the want to expand. During deliberations on the request, it came out Councillor Bob Adams is on the Nelson and District Housing Society’s board.
I’ve been hesitant to write about this, putting it off as one urgent task or another cropped up, happy for the excuse to not address a tricky situation.
I think part of the reason is the waters are murky. What better way to get in over your head than by jumping where you can’t see the bottom?
Under some circumstances this could be considered a conflict of interest, something the province’s Community Charter has clear guidelines about. Specifically, those guidelines say the councillor should excuse themselves from the meeting until the matter is resolved
What muddies the waters is the Community Charter leaves room for interpretation around issues of bias and the fact Adams was fighting for a worthwhile cause: affordable housing.
I live blogged the meeting and you can read the whole thing here but I’ll paste the relevant excerpt below.
As background, councillors were debating whether to waive building permit fees for an affordable housing project the non-profit organization Nelson and District Housing Society wants to move forward on. In a letter to the city, the society’s president, David Horner, wrote the city’s fees “are excessive and present a significant barrier to affordable housing providers.”
Councillors took turns addressing the issue and then Adams took the floor, asking Dave Wahn, city planner some questions:
Adams asks if a single-family house decides to put in a unit, do they have to pay these fees? Not at this moment, says Wahn. Then why would the society have to pay the fee? he asks. I don’t understand why it’s not the same for everybody, he says. “Why are you hitting the Nelson and District Housing Society?”
Wahn says he isn’t “hitting” the society but following the policy as it stands right now.
Adams says as soon as these units go online they’ll pay user fees. Why can’t the city waive these units?
Adams says the society isn’t adding any cost to the city, why charge these fees. Adams is using the word “we” as he talks about the society.
Stacey asks if he’s on the board of the society. Yes, Adams says. That may create a conflict of interest, says [Coun. Margaret] Stacey.
“What do you want me to do? Leave?” asks Adams. He appears frustrated with the process.
[Coun. Kim] Charlesworth feels his being on the board doesn’t really create a conflict of interest because he doesn’t benefit financially.
[Coun. Donna] Macdonald says there is still an issue of bias.
Source: Nelson Post
Councillors then seemed content to move onto some other questions on the request from the housing society.
Council eventually denied the Nelson and District Housing Society’s request, opting to look into their policy on waiving fees for affordable housing projects.
As they spoke, I did some research and found the province’s Community Charter on Ethical Conduct.
The excerpt below uses the word “pecuniary” which isn’t all that common and means: relating to, or consisting of money.
Section 100 (disclosure of conflict) of the Community Charter requires a council member to declare a conflict of interest if he or she has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter under consideration. A member must also declare a conflict if he or she has some other, non-pecuniary type of interest that places the person in a conflict position (e.g., bias). This could include any benefit obtained by relations, close friends, or associates of a member who is in conflict. Examples may include a rezoning application by a relative or close personal friend or a business license decision involving a competitor business to one operated by a close friend. The facts of each situation will be unique and will need to be considered when determining if a member is in a non-pecuniary conflict of interest situation.
It’s vital to repeat that the Nelson and District Housing Society is a non-profit organization. They don’t stand to benefit financially from council’s decision and neither would Adams.
However, as Macdonald mentioned during the council meeting, there is the issue of bias possible with Adams a member of the society’s board.
Council didn’t seem prepared to address the issue. To be fair, they were missing Mayor John Dooley and Kevin Cormack, the city manager, two people best suited to make a judgement on this matter. Unfortunately, to move on without fully addressing this issue looks sloppy.
It was obvious to me Adams had nothing but the best intentions. He was arguing for affordable housing after all.
This is why I’m hesitant to write about this. It’s not like a councillor was trying to get some project approved that would benefit them financially. Also, Adams didn’t get his way. He wanted council to waive the fees, but they didn’t, preferring to wait until city staff develop some polices on waiving fees for affordable housing projects.
According to the Community Charter, a councillor in a conflict of interest is supposed to declare that conflict as soon as the relevant issue comes up in a meeting. They’re then supposed to excuse themselves from the council chambers until the matter is addressed.
None of that happened at last Monday’s meeting which is what concerns me. This could be considered the thin edge of the wedge. What of other groups that have members of council as members? What about groups that have similar requests but no councillor to advocate for them? This is just the case regarding affordable housing: In May, Pastor Jim Reimer asked the city to waive fees and council opted to wait. See the live blog of that decision here. It’s item 6e) on the agenda.
What do you think? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?
Chris Shepherd
Chris Shepherd is the managing editor of the Inthekoots Network. He can be reached at news@inthekoots.net.
