'Whistleblower policy' being reviewed by City of Regina

The City of Regina is updating policies and introducing a new whistleblower policyfor city employees.

If passed, the whistleblower policywould allow employees to report wrongdoing about the city confidentially without fear of reprisal.

The policy is one of a number of updates in front ofthe executive committee,which is city council in committee form.

The policy is on the agenda onJan.15.

Under the new whistleblower policy, a person could take a complaint to the city manager. With the new policy, a confidential email address, mailbox, and confidential telephone number have been created.

Then the city manager would review, and choose someone to investigate, whether a city staff member or a third-party investigator.

If someone doesreport a wrongdoing, the policy stops anyone from taking punitive action against the employee.

The investigations will be documented, according to the policy, and a copy of the complaint would be sent to the city solicitor. If there is a problem, the city manager would assign responsibility and "mitigate the risk of further occurrences," the policy said.

The policy doesn't include complaints about City Council decisions orabout the mayor and council itself as those are directed to the integrity commissioner or ombudsman.

Revamp ofCode of Conduct will be 1st since 2002

The Executive Committee will also be reviewing a new Code of Conduct for City of Regina employees. The current Regina Code of Conduct and Disclosure Bylaw was approved in 2002.

The new policy, sets up conflicts of interests, interactions with others, interactions with social media, theft and fraud, management of information, gifts, personal relationships and employment of relatives.

Under the policy, city employees cannot use their position to further their personal interests or relatives' interests andemployees have to disclose in writing any situations where a conflict of interest is involved. The former policy only requirespeople to disclose their interests in land.

The "interactions with others"section is new in 2020. It has rules over people's behaviour in their own private lives, especially with social media, the policy said.

The revamped policy means City of Regina employees will have to be careful about how their social media accounts reflect on the city's image.

When it comes to employment of relatives, a City employee's child, spouse, or parents "would not be considered for employment" if placement would mean that a person would report to someone they are related to.