Just hours before the council meeting was set to begin, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum has said he intends to introduce a motion to remove his controversial bylaw amendment from Monday night’s agenda.
Councilors were set to vote in a 7 pm session on a change that would suspend the processing and investigation of new ethics complaints against the municipality until after its upcoming general election in October.
In a brief statement, however, McCallum said he will attempt to remove the amendment from the to-do list at 7 pm with a motion at the council’s land-use meeting at 5:30 pm
“The work of the Ethics Commissioner is valuable and the misinformation circulating about the bylaw is unfortunate,” the mayor said in the statement.
“If the motion is approved by Council, I will ask the Ethics Commissioner to bring a report to a future open Council meeting for consideration on how to improve the bylaw.”
The ultimate goal, he said, is to strengthen the bylaw to ensure the Office of the Ethics Commissioner can not be used for partisan purposes during the election period.
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The proposed amendment had surfaced as the embattled mayor faces an ethics complaint about staying on as chair of the Surrey Police Service board while charged with public mischief.
That investigation will continue no matter which way council proceeds on Monday, but if the amendment is somehow carried out, no new complaints or investigations would be processed during the freeze period.
Some councilors, including Jack Hundial and Linda Annis, had criticized the proposal, both for the length of time it covered and what could be perceived as a political convenience for those seeking election in the fall.
Earlier on Monday, prior to McCallum’s statement, Annis called the amendment “ridiculous.”
“Politicians who hired the ethics commissioner to provide us with good governance – we’re now putting a stop to it, which beckons the question, what are we trying to hide?” she said in an interview.
“The optics are horrific. We, as city council, need to be open and transparent to the residents and taxpayers of Surrey. ”
In his own emailed comments, ethics commissioner Reece Harding said he will respect the council process.
“As such, I do not believe it is currently appropriate for me to comment on this bylaw amendment,” he wrote.
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McCallum’s public mischief charge stemmed from an investigation into his claims that someone ran over his foot at a Save-On-Foods parking lot during an altercation with opponents of the city’s police transition last September.
The City of Surrey will pay for his legal defense as per the terms of its indemnification bylaw, although critics argue it should not because the incident allegedly took place while the mayor was shopping on a weekend.
McCallum has declined all comment on the matter while it’s before the courts.
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