Former councillors could pay for attending political events

Okotoks: Town changes policy to cover such expenses

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Former Okotoks mayor Bill McAlpine could be asked to refund the Town for political functions he attended on behave of the Town of Okotoks.

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Former councillors may have to refund their respective municipalities for attending events hosted by political parties and associations from as far back as 2004 during their time in office.

According to Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson until Oct. 1, 2010 when a councillor attended a dinner or golf tournament it had been the Town’s practice to reimburse them when they paid to attend these events.

In November, the Town received a letter from Elections Alberta asking it to submit a list of councillors who received reimbursements for attending such events. Councillors can be reimbursed up to $25 to cover expenses such as gasoline and transportation costs, but the rest is deemed to be a political contribution.

Elections Alberta spokesperson Drew Westwater said any individual councillor who paid to attend a political event and was reimbursed by the Town for that cost would have to pay that money back to the municipality.

“The individuals have gone under their own name, they got tax receipts under their own name, they made a contribution under their own name and then they come back as a councillor and asked to get reimbursed,” he said.

Municipalities cannot make any direct or indirect financial contributions to a political party. As such, he said any constituency association that received funds directly from a municipality would have to return the money.

Westwater said councillors are free to attend events but they have to pay out of their own pockets.

Robertson said the Town will comply with Elections Alberta’s request.

He stressed the Town is not requiring anyone to repay anything at this time, but it has given them an opportunity to do so before submitting the list of councillors who were reimbursed to attend political events. To date, Robertson said two former councillors have paid the Town back, but he won’t say who has done so until the Town sends the final list to the Province.

“I want to give everyone a chance. Someone may decide to reimburse and they’re just waiting for a paycheque,” he said. “I don’t want to say these people have reimbursed and the others haven’t.”

Robertson said the Town didn’t think it was doing anything wrong and stopped the practice in October 2010 after being advised to do so by the provincial government. He said it was felt the councillors should attend such events in order to keep in touch with MLAs.

“We thought we were doing things correctly,” said Robertson. “Now, it’s turned out, we weren’t doing things correctly. We have since corrected that.”

The same notice has been made to the MD of Foothills.

MD municipal manager Harry Riva Cambrin said it was the MD’s practice until October 2010 to reimburse councillors for the cost of attending some events, primarily the Premier’s Dinner hosted by the Highwood constituency.

He said the MD will review its records to see how many former councillors may have been reimbursed for attending political dinners.

Reeve Larry Spilak said the MD and councillors did not believe there was anything wrong with the practice.

He questions whether councillors should have to repay anything.

“I wouldn’t agree with that, I’d say if your administration and your council is led to believe that this is the policy of Elections Alberta and they feel you’re accurately following it, then there’s really nothing done in error,” he said.

When attending events, Spilak said councillors do so to represent their municipality, not for personal reasons. He argued it’s important for councillors to do so.

“It’s all about communication,” he said.

As well, he said it’s difficult to call all events purely political and many MLA golf tournaments are held in whole, or in part, to support charities.

The news doesn’t sit well with some former councillors.

Former Okotoks mayor Bill McAlpine said he doesn’t intend to pay. He said town council would’ve approved expenses either in individual motions or the annual budget and, as such, former councillors shouldn’t have to repay years after the fact.

“As far as I’m concerned it was a decision made by council, therefore, the Town’s responsible not the individual,” he said.

McAlpine said it was a long established practice among municipalities to pay for councillors to attend dinners or other events with MLAs. He said it’s an opportunity for the Town to promote its interests and lobby for financial and moral support for projects and initiatives.

“In my opinion, it’s absolutely essential to be out there, be known,” said McAlpine.

Former Okotoks councillor Ralph Wilson also said he shouldn’t have to pay because council approved attendance by individual members.

“My initial reaction was too bad, those requests and placements all were subject to a motion in council,” he said.

He said it was part of the job and the benefits to Okotoks for councillors attending far exceeded the cost to the Town.