Council defeats motion to limit conference attendance

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

A motion brought forward at the last council meeting to limit council attendance of the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference with the purpose of tightening the public purse strings received some backlash from council members – the majority of which are new to council.
Councillor Bob Sobol introduced the motion to limit council attendance at the FCM conference to the mayor, chief administrative officer and one councillor who would be expected to prepare a report for council at a subsequent council meeting.
Council was informed that if approved the changes would not come into affect until next year. Councillor Sobol also stated that the intention of the motion was not to hinder or restrict councillors’ desire to educate themselves or become more comfortable in their current role. However, he felt sending all of council to two conferences a year seemed excessive and that the FCM conference falls flat on meeting the standards of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) conference.
“The fact remains, as councillors we are responsible for the public purse, and it is irrelevant if these dollars are found in financial stabilization, reserves, or in councillors’ budgets; it’s all still taxpayers dollars,” said Councillor Sobol.
“My argument here is simple. When I compare the (FCM) conference to AUMA it is my opinion, and only my opinion, that the educational experience of FCM falls quite short of those at AUMA. The trade show for all intents and purposes is very simple to AUMAs.
“I’m not saying that attendance at FCM is without any benefit. I’m just saying that I consider it not worth the cost. With that in mind it seems to be a prudent and fiscally responsible direction to limit the amount of council members to attend the FCM conference.”
However other councillors disagreed. Councillor Denise Peterson credited the FCM conference she attended in Winnipeg to be one of the best conventions she’s attended and reaped great benefits, citing benefits of learning about sustainability, governance as a role as councillor, art incubators, business incubators and urban food sourcing. Councillor Peterson was concerned that the motion may limit a councillor’s ability to discern their own learning needs while not actually changing the budget amount available to councillors. For the 2018 year, councillors have a conference budget of $5,000 while the mayor has a budget of $8,000 for the current year, that is allocated towards registration, meals, accommodation and travel. The amounts are separate from the council’s annual salaries.
Councillors new to council, Councillor Tari Cockx, Councillor Jason Montgomery, Councillor Lorraine Bauer, and Councillor Melanie Corbiell also disagreed with the motion, adding they believed in value of education, managing their own budgets, and freedom for councillors to act in their best interest and responsibly.
“I do believe that each one of us should get to experience FCM and make those judgments for ourselves as (Councillor Sobol) has in the past,” said Councillor Tari Cockx. “I also believe and agree with councillor Peterson in the sense that if there was a limit or dollars were changing then I would be also in agreement, but because we’re not changing the actual amounts that are possible to be spent we’re not actually doing anything to save taxpayer’s money.”
Mayor Pat Fule said he had pushed for a change to the policy in 2010 because at the time the option of using councillor’s conference budget hadn’t been considered. However, he said he was now content with the current situation. In addition Councillor Jason Montgomery, while not in favour of the motion, announced he had supported the issue coming before council for discussion. Councillor Lorraine Bauer also expressed her concerns with the motion.
“As a professional in my field of teaching I do not get told which (professional development) events to go to, to enhance my classroom expertise instead I get to decide on my own … based on my strength and weakness as a teacher,” she said.
“Each councillor should be responsible for their own budget which is already approved and budgeted for the 2018-2019 year.”
While Councillor Bob Sobol voted in favour of the motion for council to amend Section 6 of the Council Remuneration and Expense Policy 1806 which is to limit council attendance of the annual FCM conference to the mayor the CAO and one councillor and that the attending council prepare a report to council at a subsequent council meeting with in 30 days of the end of the conference, the motion was defeated.