Council approves updated rules for dealing with issues of serious misconduct
Prince George city council at its Monday, Feb. 23 meeting approved the city’s updated whistleblower policy which outlines procedures when a city employee makes an allegation of serious misconduct involving another city employee.
One of the biggest changes in the amended policy is anonymous complaints regarding serious misconduct will no longer be investigated and that an anonymous report can be disregarded if it does not provide enough substance or can’t be verified to have been made in good faith.
Coun. Trudy Klassen explained why she would not support the policy.
“I think council would be wise to avoid adopting a policy where someone would need to bring a whistleblower policy to the entire council, that’s an issue that I have,” said Klassen. “That would be a prohibitive barrier for anyone to work on for anyone who is in that situation because any time you’re making a whistleblower complaint it’s a highly-stressed circumstance.
“I believe it would be better to have a policy where we can direct anyone wanting to make a whistleblower complaint to a third party outside of city hall. That would be a better protection against retaliation and the dangers of that. I think it would be better for us to not have a policy than adopt one shaped in this manner.”
While addressing Klassen’s concerns, Coun. Tim Bennett suggested that the BC Ombudsperson is that third party that could be used if required. He also...
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