Taking a different approach to address what he believes was a “reprehensible” social media post from a city-funded organization, Coun. Dan Gibson is looking to have the city's code of conduct for local boards extended to those groups.
Gibson first raised concerns about the post, which he declined to identify, during a council meeting earlier this month and requested a legal opinion from the city solicitor on whether the code of conduct for council and local boards could – or should – be applied to organizations that receive community benefit agreement (CBA) funding from the city.
After receiving that legal advice last week, and with the “concerning content seemingly removed,” Gibson has turned his attention to working with city staff to craft a motion requiring grant recipients to comply with rules regarding discriminatory comments.
“As an extension of our corporation through CBA’s, I personally feel that the boards of tax-funded organizations delivering services on the city’s behalf, should also be held to the same code of conduct,” wrote Gibson in an email, explaining he’d like to see CBA agreements be “more explicit in terms of councils expectations of partner organizations conduct in this manner.”
Asked what legal advice council received, Gibson noted it’s confidential and declined to comment on it specifically.
He’s hoping to bring the motion forward “in the near future” for council’s consideration.
Gibson first raised his concerns during a Nov. 18 council meeting dealing with the city’s 2022 and 2023 budgets, which includes two CBA funding increase requests Guelph Humane Society ($150,000 annual increase) and the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition ($246,600 annual increase).
With delegated authority, city staff typically manage and approve CBAs, but these requests have been put to council for a decision due to their amounts, deputy CAO Colleen Clack-Bush told council during that meeting.
The executive director for each organization previously declined to comment when contacted by GuelphToday.
