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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

"UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS"

Red Deer’s Integrity Commissioner and Ethics Advisor reports only one complaint in first year

Mar 24, 2025 | 4:39 PM

Red Deer’s city council has received its first annual report from the City’s Integrity Commissioner and Ethics Advisor, Steven Phipps.

Council passed the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw in September 2023 and it took effect on Feb. 1, 2024. This bylaw set out the standards of ethical behaviour for members of council and created the position of an Integrity Commissioner and Ethics Advisor.

The advisor’s report outlines the purpose of the position, what specific activities were completed within the last year, general trends and observations, budget commentary and bylaw recommendations.

Essentially, the commissioner is a neutral and independent position intended to receive and investigate complaints relating to the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw and provide advice to councillors, and the council as a whole, regarding ethical behaviour.

In 2024, his first year in this role, Phipps only received one formal complaint, which he reports was dismissed at the preliminary stages and did not require an investigation.

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As a result, the expenses for 2024 were only $8,580, a fraction of the $85,000 budgeted. Phipps explains in his report, however, that this low cost was likely due to the lack of complaints. To accommodate for this, he recommends maintaining the full budget amount of $85,000 next year as well, as a full investigation will likely impact that expense line and only one year hasn’t given an accurate picture of cost.

He also fielded one citizen inquiry, gave advice and direction on four separate cases, and made a presentation to council. Additionally, Phipps created a formal Complaint Receipt and Investigation Procedure, intended to guide the commissioner in dealing with complaints consistently and transparently.

As only one complaint was fielded by Phipps, he was unable to comment on any trends, however, he did note that Strathcona County and the City of Medicine Hat have followed the example set by Red Deer in the adoption of their own Code of Conduct bylaws. He anticipates to see the number of Alberta municipalities adopting this independent Integrity Commissioner model to increase over time.

After using the bylaw in practice for a year, Phipps suggests a few minor technical amendments in his report, but otherwise found the bylaw to be effective.

Overall, he calls Red Deer’s first year of its Council Code of Conduct Bylaw an “unqualified success.”

City council received this report for information during its regular meeting on March 24.

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