The City of Prince George will delay a censure hearing against councillor Brian Skakun to allow the B.C. Supreme Court time to hear an injunction petition by the embattled official.
At a special meeting on Wednesday, city council extended the Sept. 14 deadline for a censure hearing against Skakun and passed a motion to oppose his petition to the court.
"My concern is that we are spending a lot of energy and time of something... that is basically a minor slap on the wrist. It will not infringe on his ability to do the job he was elected to do," Coun. Cameron Stolz said. "I think the citizens of Prince George are tired of it. How long do we expect to wait?"
Skakun was convicted under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act on May 24 for releasing a confidential city human resources document to the CBC. Skakun has appealed the ruling to the B.C. Supreme Court.
In July city council ordered a censure hearing against Skakun. However, on Aug. 10 Skakun requested a court injunction to prevent the censure hearing until his appeal is resolved.
In addition Skakun is seeking for Mayor Dan Rogers and councillors Don Bassermann, Murry Krause and Debora Munoz be excluded from all votes on a censure motion. All four gave testimony at Skakun's trial and Munoz was the key witness in the case against Skakun.
"I'm not very happy that we're required to follow this step," Coun. Shari Green said. "This is a delay tactic, and it could drag us through the election season. This is an utter distraction for everyone."
B.C. municipal elections are set to take place on Nov. 19.
Even if Skakun's appeal is successful and the conviction is overturned, Green said, the censure hearing should continue.
"There was an admission [by Skakun] that a document was removed from this chamber," Green said. "That level of trust... that this council takes privacy seriously has to be upheld."
Mayor Rogers said the city will fight Skakun's petition in the courts to uphold the city's jurisdictional rights.
"We are obliged to respond. We will oppose the petition, but will respect the courts," Rogers said. "We believe council has the right to censure one of its members, we have that jurisdiction."
The city has also put forward four resolutions to the Union of B.C. Municipalities annual general meeting in September, calling for stronger legislation to punish city councillors who breach privacy laws and their oath of office.
Under a censure, council has the authority to remove Skakun from committees, boards, municipal commissions, and the rotating acting mayor and chairperson of the committee of the whole lists. In addition, council could restrict his travel on council business to municipal events only.
Under the B.C. Community Charter, an elected official can not be disqualified from office for breaching the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act or the confidentially clauses of the charter itself.
Skakun was out of the city on a family vacation on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment as of press time.
However on Tuesday he was looking forward to resolving the issue.
"I'm hoping we get it into court soon so we can resolve this and move on to more important matters," Skakun said.
No date has been set for the court to hear the petition.
