A change to the city’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Bylaw has Coun. Brian Skakun concerned about perceived conflicts of interest.
On Monday night, city council approved a change to the city’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Bylaw, designating the city manager as the person in charge of managing freedom of information instead of the general manager of administrative services. In addition, the amended bylaw adds the manager of legislative services as a second coordinator, alongside the supervisor of information and privacy.
“The challenge I have is a lot of organizations have dedicated people (to administer the act)...” Coun. Brian Skakun said. “But I think having the city manager do it, he or she can be put in a very difficult position by having to serve two masters. If there is some politicaly-charged FOIs or documents that might come out, or if there is things that might come out in an FOI where their might be staffing issues… it is a very difficult position to be in.”
There is “the potential for a perceived conflict of interest,” Skakun added. The person in charge of Freedom of Information should either be completely separate from the city manager, he said, or the city should have an alternative, independent person who can review FOI releases when it touches on areas of the city manager’s responsibility.
However, Skakun said he would support the bylaw because the update was "long overdue."
Coun. Trudy Klassen said she would be supporting the change, “because I think it is essential our public is able to trust our FOI system.”
Coun. Kyle Sampson said his understanding is that the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act doesn’t leave much room for interpretation by city staff. In addition, if a party feels their FOI request was not fully responded to, they can appeal to the B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner for a review.
“There is a complete loop already in place to get rid of bias and conflict of interest,” Sampson said. “My confidence in our city manager upholding the integrity of this process, which is legislated by the province, is at its peak. I have no reason to believe this is not being conducted appropriately.”
The goal is for the change to be temporary, Babicz added, and city administration intend to bring a new amendment back in six to 12 months to designate the manager of legislative services designated as the person in charge of freedom of information and privacy.
Babicz said he intends to delegate his responsibility to the two designated coordinators. In addition, the city manager was the designated person in charge of Freedom of Information from 1994 to 2015, under an older version of the bylaw.
