Changes coming to Vancouver's code of conduct to establish boundaries for political staff

The first-ever report summarizing complaints made to the City of Vancouver's auditor general under whistleblower protections says the city should update its code of conduct to define political staff, acknowledge their responsibilities and establish clear boundaries for acceptable conduct.

Political staff work in areas such as the mayor's office where from Jan.1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2024, $709,575.36 of Ken Sim's budget was spent on political staff salaries, according to city data.

Auditor General Mike Macdonell's report does not name the individual it received two reports about in 2024, who is alleged to have given advice in a conflict of interest.

Macdonell confirmed to CBC News the reports were about mayoral adviser David Grewal, who has business interests in natural gas.

In November, council voted down a move to reverse a Vancouver policy that prohibits natural gas for heating in new buildings after a surprise motion in the summer.

Code 'silent' on political staff

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) said it found no "serious wrongdoing" in its investigation of the Grewal complaints.

It also said the reports made to the OAG over the matter were not within the office's scope but that of the city's code of conduct, which is under human resources.

Still, the OAG's preliminary assessment found challenges in the code dealing with allegations of conflict of interest under the city's current code.

"While the code of conduct explicitly states it applies to city employees who are political staff, it is silent on how it should be applied to them," reads the report.

It said, unlike provincial and federal governments, "the city does not have specific standards of conduct for political staff reflecting their unique roles."

Macdonell's report says the code, as written, would be difficult to apply to political staff at the city.

'Unenforceable'

"The nature of the responsibilities of political staff would suggest that part of their activities are going to be political in nature. But the code expressly prohibits that. So in that sense, those components of the code become unenforceable."

The OAG and its team reported the finding to the city's chief human resource officer and made three recommendations.

Those include amending the code of conduct to include a definition of the term "political staff," establishing clear boundaries for acceptable conduct and having monitoring and enforcement assigned to an external party.

The auditor general committee at city hall on Thursday voted to endorse the three recommendations.

A statement from Mayor Ken Sim's office said it welcomed efforts to amend the code of conduct to provide greater clarity.

"Clear guidelines are essential to ensuring transparency and accountability," it said. "Updating the code to better reflect the unique roles of political staff is a positive step forward, and we appreciate the recommendations from the Auditor General's office to strengthen these policies."

Vancouver's chief human resources officer, Andrew Naklicki, told the auditor general committee that his office is working on an update on the current code of conduct, which would be brought back to council, most likely in May.

Macdonnell's report also made 14 other recommendations, which were endorsed by the committee. They were related to whistleblower reports over employee use of city vehicles.

Other reports prompted investigations into allegations of improper hiring, while another resulted in a performance audit to be conducted by the OAG to look at how the city sells lands.

Speak up staffers: OAG

In its first year, 173 reports containing 191 distinct allegations were submitted to the OAG, with nearly three-quarters coming from sources outside city hall.

Macdonell said city staff should be made more aware of the whistleblower policy, which has higher participation by staff in other jurisdictions with similar policies.

"I really want staff to understand that they'll be heard and respected," he said. "That their reports will be taken seriously and that the information they provide will be treated confidentially.

"They also need to know they'll be protected from retaliation."

Last year, the responsibility for whistleblower complaints was transferred from human resources to Macdonell's office, which now has dedicated whistleblower staff.

The city's whistleblower policy authorizes the auditor general to receive reports and investigate allegations of serious wrongdoing, including fraud, waste or other serious misuse of public funds or resources, as well as conflicts of interest likely to profit a city employee.