Sudbury gives go-ahead to hire integrity commissioner

Sudbury will finally be getting an integrity commissioner.

City council voted to have the watchdog in place by December, 2018, the first day of a newly-elected council, and a few months ahead of the provincially mandated deadline of March, 2019.

• Sudbury considers implementing city hall's first integrity commissioner
• Sudbury considers integrity commissioner

Integrity commissioners are independent of council, investigating allegations of conflict of interest, or any contravention of the municipal code of conduct, as laid out in the Municipal Act of 2001.

Currently, the city uses a wrongdoing hotline, which answers to the auditor general, to track any conflicts of interest.

The recommendation of city staff was to contract a third-party commissioner, likely shared between multiple municipalities for their services.

City Clerk EricLabellesaid there likelywasn't a business case to have a dedicated commissioner for the city, suggesting "anRFPto engage a service provider on an hourly basis would be the best start for us."

The short, troubled history of integrity commissioners in Sudbury

This isn't the first time the subject of an integrity commissioner has come up.

In 2014, councilvoted down amotion toestablish a commissioner.

In 2013, then-councillor Terry Ketttold CBC Newsthe role might be used by lobby groups to further erode morale at city hall.

There are a few exclusions in the municipal act limiting which organizations the commissioner can investigate. Health Services, Public Library and police services would not fall under the commissioner's authority, said Kristen Newman, the city's deputy solicitor,.