Two Richmond residents are calling on city council to give the public “channels” to express their concerns over councillors’ behaviour.
Sheldon Starrett and Fion Lo, who both spoke last week at a council meeting on the code of conduct, held a press conference on Monday calling on city council to amend this code to allow the public to lodge complaints.
“We are calling on mayor and council to amend the code of conduct to allow a channel for members of the public, city staff, and anyone else who isn’t a sitting councillor to make formal complaints regarding conduct of councillors. There was no referral or follow up when I brought this up at last Monday’s council meeting,” Starrett said in a press release following the media conference.
But Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said the public has “tools” to hold elected officials to account. Firstly, he said, they can speak at public meetings or to the media.
But, ultimately, they can hold elected officials to account at the next municipal election.
“That’s always been the way the public has recourse,” Brodie said.
Speaking to city council last week, Starrett and Lo referred to meetings held on Feb. 12 and 13 when city council was debating a motion to ask Vancouver Coastal Health to explore setting up a safe drug consumption site at Richmond Hospital.
About 100 delegates spoke on the topic, largely opposing it.
The meetings were preceded by rallies, attended by hundreds of people where they chanted “no drugs, no drugs.”
This continued in city council chambers until Brodie told people there would be no clapping or jeering from the audience.
Brodie said misinformation has been spreading in the community since February that city council is encouraging drug use, whereas the goal of council is to “keep people alive.”
After the February meetings, there were more rallies and discussions on the issue of safe consumption sites.
“I think the misinformation and lack of clarity continued,” Brodie said.
At last week’s meeting, there was once again a handful of people holding signs saying “Say no to drugs.”
Given this context, whereby Brodie said he felt audience members were perpetuating “misinformation” that city council is encouraging drug use, he felt “warranted” to shut down Lo’s speech but, he added “I can always review it.”
Before shutting down her delegation, Brodie told Lo he felt she was making a “political speech.”
In the press release, Lo called for the mayor “to apologize for arbitrarily preventing her from speaking on her delegation last Monday.”
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