City councils need an ethics commissioner, Port Moody contends

At this year’s Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention, Port Moody has a resolution to establish a local government ethics commissioner. 

This comes after controversy within its own council last year after it came to the public’s attention that four council members met with the Coronation Park developer in 2022 — in a way that some dubbed unlawful.

Couns. Samantha Agtarap, Diana Dilwroth, Kyla Knowles, and Callan Morrison attended a developer-led tour of another of Wesgroup Properties master planned communities in Vancouver. 

Wesgroup is the developer of Port Moody’s six-tower Coronation Project (it  has since been renamed to Inlet District.)

It is illegal for a quorum of council to meet and discuss city business outside a formal recorded meeting. The controversy revolved around the definition of a meeting, and if this visit counts as one.

“There was no staff, it wasn’t a meeting, it wasn’t an agenda, there was absolutely no decisions made,” Dilworth responded last October. “It was strictly an opportunity to see some best case scenarios about what Coronation Pak development could look like.”

But Coun. Haven Lurbiecki disagreed, calling for a third party investigation and introducing a motion to lobby the provincial government to reform “dangerously inadequate” municipal oversight and establish an office of the Municipal Government Ethics Commissioner.

While Mayor Meghan Lahti, the developer and several councillors have since dismissed any illegality, the council unanimously supported a call for establishing a provisional ethics commissioner and sending it to the UBCM.

Currently, most local councils are self regulating and can choose whether to address allegations of wrongdoing by a majority vote.

“These are situations we just shouldn’t be placed in,” Lurbiecki said last October, describing councils as akin to juries overseeing their own trials. “The very people who may be facing an accusation or concern oversee how it’s handled.”

This resolution will be discussed at the UBCM’s convention next month, among 257 resolutions put forward by local governments across the province — all hoping the majority of the convention will endorse and then advocate it to another government or organization (like the province or RCMP).

Other Tri-Cities resolutions at the UBCM convention

Port Moody has signed onto an additional six resolutions. 

Many of these are related to climate change and the environment, such as tree canopy protection and updating the minimum standards of maintenance to account for climate change increasing vulnerabilities in the built environment. 

They’ve also signed onto Port Coquitlam’s resolution to update the B.C. Building Code and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations are updated to “include provisions for menstrual supplies.”

Coquitlam put forward a resolution for better provincial government engagement practices. It wants the UBCM to advocate the province to review its consultation processes involving local governments — especially if it is a regulatory or legislative change that impacts them. 

The convention is from Sept. 16 to Sept. 20.