A new Town of Okotoks policy protects its employees and residents from ramifications for reporting gross misconduct.
The new whistleblower policy was approved by council on Nov. 9 and provides guidelines for filing complaints against Town employees or elected officials for serious misbehaviour while performing their duties.
Gross misconduct includes criminal activity, fraud, violation of bylaws, mishandling of corporate information, causing harm and breach of the code of conduct adopted by the Town, council and council committees.
The policy is designed to maintain the anonymity of the complainant and is open to all employees, elected officials and members of the public, said Nancy Weigel, corporate and strategic services director for the Town.
“It’s not different from the way we’ve been operating normally, but it formalizes the process,” said Weigel. “It’s part of the culture of employees of the Town of Okotoks, the obligation to report wrongdoing.”
In 2013 Meyers Norris Penny conducted a governance and organizational review of the Town and recommended it adopt such policies, in addition to codes of conduct, she said.
Though whistleblower policies are typically adopted in much larger municipalities than Okotoks, Weigel said it is a trend that many more mid-sized communities will be developing in due course.
Should anyone witness gross misconduct by Town employees, the complaint is filed with the chief administrative officer (CAO), currently Rick Quail. Complaints regarding council members are directed to the mayor and complaints about either the mayor or the CAO are filed with the deputy mayor or deputy CAO, she said. Each report is followed up with an internal investigation.
Though some complaints of a serious nature have been filed in the past, it has been rare, she said. In her 20 years with the Town, Wiegel said she has never heard of anything as serious as fraud.
Instead, she said the majority of reports tend to be more minor, such as garbage not being picked up from a home for the second time.
“We do investigate all of those complaints,” said Weigel. “But we don’t tend to hear misconduct complaints.”
The whistleblower policy works in conjunction with the codes of conduct for Town of Okotoks employees and for council and council committee members, she said. The complaint process works the same in both instances, but members of the public who sit on council committees may be reported to the mayor, she said.
“It’s really about adhering to the terms of reference policy and bylaws in that case, as well as ethical behaviour expectations,” said Weigel.
There are consequences in either case for individuals filing malicious reports without justification, she said.
Though the entire process is designed to be confidential, if a complaint brought forward is made in bad faith and is found to be unsubstantiated, action will be taken against the complainant, she said.
“At the end of the day it’s really all about respectful behaviour, communication and accountability,” said Weigel. “We’re protecting everyone and being proactive.”
