Rule No. 2
Gifts and Benefits
1. No member shall accept a fee, advance, gift, loan, or personal benefit that is connected directly
or indirectly with the performance of his or her duties of Office, except as specifically permitted
by the exceptions listed below.
For these purposes, a fee or advance paid to or a gift or benefit provided with the member’s
knowledge to a member’s spouse, child, or parent, or to a member’s staff that is connected
directly or indirectly to the performance of the member’s duties is deemed to be a gift to that
member. The following are recognized as exceptions:
(a) compensation authorized by law;
(b) such gifts or benefits that normally accompany the responsibilities of office and are received as
an incident of protocol or social obligation;
(c) a political contribution otherwise reported by law;
(d) services provided without compensation by persons volunteering their time to a Member;
(e) a suitable memento of a function honouring the Member (i.e. a trinket or favour of relatively
little monetary value such as pen, notepad, t-shirts);
(f) food, lodging, transportation and entertainment provided by provincial, regional and local
governments or political subdivisions of them, by the Federal government or by a foreign
government within a foreign country or by a conference, seminar or event organizer where the
Member is either speaking or attending in an official capacity at an official event;
(for greater certainty of item f, where Council has authorized or endorsed an initiative or event,
this would be considered an official event.)
(g) food and beverages consumed at banquets, receptions or similar events, for charitable, not for
profit and community purposes, if:
1. attendance serves a legitimate public duty purpose; and
2. the value is reasonable and the invitations infrequent; and
(h) business meals;
(i) communication to the offices of a Member, including subscriptions to newspapers and
periodicals related to the duties of Office.
(j) Sponsorships and donations for community events or initiatives organized or run by a member
or a third party on behalf of a Member where Council has authorized or endorsed the event or
initiative.
(for greater certainty of item j, for Member-organized community events or initiatives, Members
should be transparent in their dealings with the public and should not handle any funds on
behalf of any organizations and should remain at arms length from the financial aspects of
these events and initiatives.)
Rule #2 Part 1(j) does not affect the entitlement of a Member of Council to:
i. Use her or his office expense budget to run or support community events subject to the terms of the
Councillor Expense Policy;
ii. Urge constituents, businesses and other groups to support community events put on by others in the
Member’s Ward or elsewhere in the City;
iii. Play an advisory or membership role in any organization that holds community events in the
Member’s Ward; and
iv. Collaborate with the City of Brampton and its agencies to hold community events.
2. Each Member shall disclose in a Gift Registry to be maintained in the Clerks department all gifts,
benefits and hospitality received with an individual value of $50 CAD or more from one source
in a calendar year.
The member of Council shall specify for each gift, in a Gift Disclosure Statement to be
maintained in the Gift Registry:
• The nature of the gift, benefit or hospitality
• The donor of the gift, benefit or hospitality and date of receipt
• The circumstances under which the gift or benefit was given and received
• The estimated value of the gift, benefit or hospitality, and
• The intended use of the gift or benefit.
The Clerk shall post quarterly, all Gift Disclosure Statements received, beginning with March 31,
2016, on brampton.ca
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Commentary
Gifts
and benefits are often received by Members in the course of their duties, and
attendance at public functions is expected and considered part of their
role. The object of this rule is to
provide transparency around the receipt of incidental gifts and benefits,
where the total value may be perceived as potentially influencing decision
making.
Personal integrity
and sound business practices require that relationships with vendors,
contractors, or others doing business with the City, be such that no Member
of Council is perceived as showing favouritism or bias toward the vendor,
contractor or other. Each Member of
Council is accountable to the public and should keep a list of all gifts
received from individuals, firms or associations (with estimated values) in
their constituency offices for review by Integrity Commissioner, as he/she
deems appropriate. However, those gifts or benefits that exceed $50 or the
annual limit of $50 for one source, shall be kept on a form prescribed by the
Integrity Commissioner and filed with the office of the City Clerk on a
quarterly basis.
Gifts
that are subject to listing on the Member of Council information statement
can be many types of things, and may include:
-
property (i.e. a book,
flowers, a gift basket, a painting or sculpture, furniture, wine);
-
use of property or
facilities (i.e. a vehicle, an office, a cottage) at a reduced rate or at no
cost;
-
membership in a club or
other organization (i.e. a golf club) at a reduced rate or at no cost;
-
an invitation to and/or
tickets to attend an event (i.e. an athletic commercial event, concert, a
play) at a reduced
rate or at no cost;
-
an invitation to attend a
gala or fund-raising event at a reduced rate or at no cost.
An
invitation to attend a function where the invitation is connected directly or
indirectly with the performance of the Member’s duties of Office (i.e. for
which the public office holder has a ceremonial, presentational or
representational official role) is not considered to be a gift. Attendance is considered to be the
fulfillment of an official function or duty.
There
are a range of expenses that support a Councillors’ role in community
development and engagement activities in their ward.
For
MPPs, these expenses are generally paid for by caucus funds. This is not the case for municipal Members
of Council. The section of the
Councillor Expense Policy that deals with Community Expense-Events will
indicate allowable expenses for reimbursement and provide for Members of
Council to include certain community expenses related to a Member’s role in
community development as allowable expenditures from their office expense
budget. However, gaming tickets during
charitable functions, such as raffle tickets, table prize tickets, etc.
should not be eligible for reimbursement
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3. Expenses incurred by Members of Council working during normal meal periods serve a
legitimate public duty purpose, provided that the expenses incurred are reasonable and
appropriate in the circumstances. Reasonable and appropriate expenses are those that:
a. Are incurred for an official duty or function;
b. Are modest, representing a prudent use of public funds;
c. Do not involve alcoholic beverages unless in a ticketed event, the cost of such beverages is
included in the ticket price.
In general, working meals are to be provided in-house.
| Commentary
Rule
#2 must be considered with and balanced against the principle contained expense
policies in all Ontario municipalities, which is that Members are entitled to
be reimbursed for expenses that are legitimately and appropriately incurred for
an official duty or function and which are reasonable and prudent expenses and
use of public funds in the circumstances. In making a determination of what
constitutes a modest and prudent use of public funds, Members should consider
the dollar amounts set out in the Council Expense Policy, as amended.
Given the heavy demands on Members’ schedules
in the performance of their duties and functions, there are legitimate
circumstances that require business meetings over a meal period and result in
the Member working through his or her normal meal periods.
“Official
duties” or “functions” has the following meaning:
For Members of
Council, it includes those activities that are reasonably related to a Member’s
office, taking into consideration the different interest, the diverse profiles
of their wards and their different roles on Committees, agencies, boards and
commissions.
For persons employed
in the office of Members, it includes those activities and responsibilities
that flow from acting on direction from or taking action on behalf of a member.
As
representatives of the municipal government, Members will be expected or
required to extend hospitality to external parties as part of their official
duties and functions. This Code recognizes that through adherence to the
current and proposed rules of the City’s Councillor Expense Policy, it is
legitimate for Members to incur hospitality expenses for meetings, examples of
which include:
a. Engaging
representatives of other levels of government, international delegations or
visitors, the broader public sector, business contacts and other third parties
in discussions on official matters;
b. Providing
persons from national, international and charitable organizations with an
understanding and appreciation of the City of Brampton or the workings of its
municipal government;
c. Honouring persons from Brampton in recognition of exceptional public service.
This
Code recognizes that the current City of Brampton Councillor Expense Policy,
holds legitimate that Members of Council will be reimbursed or have their
office budgets charged for expenses that are incurred while extending
hospitality to an external party, including hospitality that takes place in the
course of travelling on a duty or function or a Member of Council provided the
expenses are reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances.
Reasonable
and appropriate expenses are expenses that strike a balance between economy
(the expenses represent a prudent use of public funds) and proportionality (the
expenses represent what is customary for such functions).
Wherever
possible, Members of Council should utilize City-owned facilities and resources
that are appropriate to the function.
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4. This Code recognizes that as community leaders, Members of Council may lend their support to
and encourage, community donations to registered charitable and Not for profit groups.
Monies raised through fundraising efforts shall go directly to the groups or volunteers and
chapters acting as local organizers of the group. This Code recognizes the important work of
Members of Council in supporting charitable causes and the need for transparency in Members’
involvement.
This Code sets the following guiding principles for Members
of Council:
(a) Members of Council should
not directly or indirectly manage or control any monies
received relating to
charitable organization’s fundraising.
(b) Where a Member of Council
sponsors and/or lends support to a charitable organization’s
event, this Code
recognizes that all donations are subject to the Code of Conduct.
(c) No donation cheques should
be made out to a Member of Council.
Nothing included herein affects the entitlement of a Member
of Council to:
i. Use her or his office
expense budget to run or support community events subject to the
terms of the
Councillor Expense Policy section relating to Community Expense Events;
ii. urge constituents,
businesses and other groups to support community events and
advance the needs
of a charitable organization put on by others in the Member’s Ward
or elsewhere
in the City;
iii. play an advisory or
membership role in any organization that holds community events
in the Member’s
Ward; and
iv. collaborate with the
City of Brampton and its agencies to hold community events.
(d) Members of Council should not handle any funds
on behalf of any charitable organization
or Community group and should remain at arms length from the financial aspects
of these
community and external events.