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By rdnewsNOW Staff

Steven Phipps

City of Red Deer hires first Integrity Commissioner & Ethics Advisor

Feb 5, 2024 | 9:24 PM

The City of Red Deer has hired Steven Phipps as their first Integrity Commissioner & Ethics Advisor.

City council approved the contractual hiring on January 22, 2024.

The Integrity Commissioner & Ethics Advisor will receive and investigate potential breaches of the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, provide ethics advice to councillors regarding individual ethics, and support elected officials to maintain the high level of integrity that the public expects, city officials say.

The City’s original Council Code of Conduct Bylaw was adopted in 2018 following direction from the Provincial Government to implement through the Municipal Government Act (MGA).

An updated Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, incorporating the role of Integrity Commissioner & Ethics Advisor, was effective February 1, 2024.

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READ: Red Deer city council adopts new Code of Conduct Bylaw

PHIPPS BACKGROUND

Phipps graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal in 1985 and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1988.

For 13 years (1998 – 2011), he was a staff lawyer with the City of Edmonton, providing legal advice to city council and a number of different municipal departments. His municipal law experience continued in private practice from 2011 to 2013 with FMC LLP (now Dentons) and then with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (now Alberta Municipalities) until his retirement from the full-time practice of law in 2016. Since that time, Phipps has continued to work on projects with a number of Alberta municipalities including Strathcona County, Lethbridge, Beaumont and Leduc.

Outside the practice of law, Phipps was a sessional instructor in municipal law with the University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension in the NAACLA program from 2009 until 2021, was appointed by Edmonton city council as a member of the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission where he served from 2015 until 2021, including three years as Commission Chair, and since 2022 has served as a member of the Board of Directors of BC Hockey.

FILING A COMPLAINT

If an individual believes a councillor has contravened the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, they can make a written complaint to the Integrity Commissioner.

Written complaints must include the following:

1. The provisions of the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw that the individual believes were contravened;
2. A detailed description of the facts giving rise to the complaint, including any witnesses and the dates of events;
3. The name of the councillor(s) they believe have contravened the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw; and
4. The complainant’s name, current address, and phone number.

A Code of Conduct Complaint Form can be found here and can be submitted by email to Integrity.Commissioner@reddeer.ca or delivered to:

Attention: Integrity Commissioner
The City of Red Deer
Box 5008 Red Deer
AB, Canada T4N 3T4

The complaint must be received no later than 90 days after the date the complainant became aware of the conduct giving rise to the complaint.

For more information on the complaint submission process and information on the investigation and reporting of complaints, read the Code of Conduct Bylaw 3696/2023.

READ MORE:

Code of Conduct investigation closes on Red Deer city councillor

Second Code of Conduct investigation this year against Red Deer city councillor finds breach

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