Councillor Brian Skakun expressed relief Friday at city council's decision not to proceed with censure and sanctions for leaking confidential information to a local media outlet.
Skakun also said that if he had a chance to do it all over again, there is "no doubt' he would've done things differently.
"I would've done everything I could internally to try and get the information out," Skakun said in an interview.
"I also would have had council on board if I could have to bring the information out."
Skakun has admitted he never directly urged council to pass a
motion to make public a report from a labour lawyer detailing the conduct of a city manager at the Prince George RCMP detachment.
Nor did he take the issue to the provincial privacy commissioner for a ruling, opting instead to give the document to CBC Radio.
The station posted the document on its website for a brief period on Aug. 19, 2008. Slightly less than a year later, a charge was laid against Skakun and on May 24, he was fined $750 in Prince George provincial court following a lengthy trial.
Skakun said Friday a "mechanism" needs to be put in place to better enable an elected official to make such information public when he or she believes it's in the public interest without being penalized.
"How that happens, I don't know," Skakun said.
But he expects it will be an issue the next council will pursue after it's elected on Nov. 19.
"It could take awhile," he said "I mean, change starts slowly but I think ... things can change."
A censure is an expression of disapproval by council of a colleague's actions. And had council followed up with sanctions, Skakun could have been prohibited from being the acting mayor, chairing the committee of the whole, sitting on any council committees, municipal commission and boards in the city's name, and from traveling to out-of-town local government events.
He also could have been ordered to apologize to all parties affected, something Skakun did in chambers Friday prior to council's decision.
Skakun said he will continue to pursue an appeal of the fine.
"My case could have had implications for elected officials across the country, it could set a huge, huge precedent," Skakun said.
The original court case cost Skakun about $30,000, about half of which was covered by donations.
He has said lawyer Jon Duncan is representing him without cost on the appeal and did so on the recent hearing in Prince George provincial court on the censure.
The city has never provided a figure for how much it has spent on legal fees, although Mayor Dan Rogers has said it has been in the "tens of thousands" of dollars.
