Rocky Mountain House town council discusses a code of conduct complaint on July 5, 2022. Mayor Debbie Baich is pictured here on the far right. (Town of Rocky Mountain House YouTube channel)

By Brock Cullen (94.5 REWIND Radio) and Josh Hall (rdnewsNOW)

third party investigation

Code of conduct complaint filed against Rocky Mountain House Mayor Debbie Baich

Jul 9, 2022 | 1:08 PM

A Rocky Mountain House town councillor has filed a formal code of conduct complaint against Mayor Debbie Baich, claiming that her behaviour has “spiraled downward with no regard for our current bylaws and policies.”

The complaint was filed by Councillor Dave Auld, and read aloud at council’s July 5 meeting.

In a letter, Auld states his complaint is to do with two matters, the first being videos of Baich on social media, where she is allegedly “endorsing a specific business.”

Writes Auld: “This is unacceptable use of the position of Mayor. This is in direct violation of Bylaw 2018/13V section 11.1 which reads ‘No member shall use the influence of the member’s office for any purpose other than for the exercise of the member’s official duties.”

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Auld is asking for an investigation to look into if the mayor received any type of compensation, monetary or otherwise, for said alleged endorsement.

Auld then writes that the mayor’s recent attendance at the Annual General Meeting of the Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP), is problematic.

“[The mayor] was specifically instructed on June 1 not to attend as the attendance violated our bylaw.”

Auld continues in the letter, claiming that Mayor Baich has refused to properly officiate council meetings with professionalism and accuracy. Auld alleges that the mayor has adjourned meetings before completing the entire agenda, plus personally attacked and bullied other members, all of which, he says, has, “led to the current lack of effectiveness we have as council.”

Auld says Baich has also attended meetings she should not have, such as with local First Nations to discuss Howse Pass, even going as far as trying to rename it, he claims.

Auld’s complaint suggests the mayor be sanctioned and removed from all council committees and bodies which council has the right to appoint members.

As mayor, Baich currently sits on 14 committees, and is an alternate for three others, according to the Town’s website.

“The mayor is not respecting the municipality as an institution, its bylaws, policies and procedures. The mayor is openly encouraging the disobedience of our bylaws,” he writes. “The Mayor should be removed as the official spokesperson for the municipality of Rocky Mountain House.”

94.5 REWIND Radio and rdnewsNOW (Pattison Media) reached out to Mayor Baich, but she did not return our repeated calls.

However, she did speak during the July 5 meeting when this item arose, first saying to Councillor Auld that he could read his statement, but that she’d like to table the item to a future date. She claimed that it had not been given to council beforehand.

“I feel that the complaint is full of inaccuracies, conjecture and assumptions,” she said.

Under the Code of Conduct Bylaw, council had the option to itself investigate the complaint, or hire a third party to do so. It was unanimously agreed upon to do the latter.

Baich, from her seat, stated she was abstaining from the vote, however. The matter was not tabled, nor was a tabling vote held.

Since the Code of Conduct Bylaw was implemented in 2018, there have been no formal complaints filed.

Conversation about complaint starts at 1:40:55 mark