Complaints and Investigations

When a member of Council breaches the Council Code of Conduct, the Complaint and Resolution Procedures outlined in Part 4 of the Bylaw is used to address the situation.

Being transparent, accountable, and respectful is important to Council, which is why the Bylaw also outlines a public disclosure requirement, subject to redaction under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Please note: the identity of the complainant and respondents for complaints where no report has been issued or authorized for release remain confidential as per the Code of Conduct and supported by privacy legislation.

How are Code of Conduct Investigators Selected?

Pursuant to the terms of the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, when a Code of Conduct complaint is submitted, the City’s Chief Administrative Officer (or the Corporate Officer if the complaint involves the Chief Administrative Officer) must retain an Investigator. The Chief Administrative Officer (or Corporate Officer, as the case may be) is required by the Code of Conduct to retain a qualified, independent, and objective third party to act as Investigator and assist in resolving the complaint. In most instances, they seek legal advice to assist with the retainer.

Typically, the Investigator must:

  • be a lawyer in good standing with the Law Society of British Columbia;
  • have experience working with municipal corporations and elected officials;
  • have experience conducting municipal code of conduct investigations and drafting municipal code of conduct investigation reports; and
  • have experience interpreting municipal codes of conduct, other statutes, and court decisions which govern municipal governments.

It is common for a municipality to use the same Investigator for many or even all its code of conduct complaints – the Investigator becomes familiar with the municipality’s specific code of conduct and is therefore able to conduct investigations more efficiently than a new investigator interpreting the code of conduct for the first time. By using the same Investigator for its Code of Conduct complaints, the City of Kamloops also ensures consistency between complaints (e.g., consistent investigation procedures, Code of Conduct interpretation, report content etc.).

To date, the City has engaged two Code of Conduct investigators.