Calgary city councilors vote on new telecommuting rules

New rules for Calgary city councilors who want to work remotely are expected this week.

The council sometimes votes on changes that allow it to participate in debates.

The changes are aimed at striking a balance between councilors' schedules and their need to give full attention to the debate.

Council members are paid $120,000 a year, a salary that meets many requirements.

“Really long days — 12 hour days, 10 hours at night, often days in a row,” Kuhn said. Jasmine Mian said.

Mian is the first councilor in city history to give birth in office, and says she supports virtual attendance requirements, but would like to see exemptions based on charter-protected circumstances.

“It's not just about me and my particular situation. I think about anybody really,” he said.

The proposed changes would require counselors participating remotely to be in a private location with their camera on and no virtual background, and would be overseen by the city's ethics office.

In December Con. Dan McLean was accused of missing a vote while working remotely from the golf course.

The new rules appear to be in response to the incident.

“I attended an industry event with several other consultants. I spoke to the industry about homebuilders in the face of an affordability crisis, and then held a meeting,” McLean said.

One political observer believes that an amendment is in order to prevent abuse of the system.

“It should be an option, but the consultant wasn't working from home. He was working on the golf course. He was on vacation,” Keith Brownsey said.

Mian plans to introduce amendments at Tuesday's meeting.

“I'm the first woman to have a baby while I'm serving here, and that's because the job isn't available, so I think I'm figuring out how to do it. the people we represent,” Mian said.

Mian wants to make sure that new mothers, people with disabilities or other health restrictions are not excluded from the council's consideration.

He agrees that face-to-face discussions have value and that remote meetings should not become the norm — his concern is that the limits are too broad.