Council refers term limits on boards and committees to SPC for future council date

Lethbridge councillor John Middleton-Hope put forward a motion at council that there should be term limits for memberships on boards and committees for councillors. This means members of council would serve a maximum three-year term with two councillors at a time.

This would include the Lethbridge Housing Authority, Green Acres Foundation and the Highway 3 Twinning Association.

He also said each person should forego additional financial compensation for sitting on these committees and boards or instead donate the funds to a charity of their choice.

Middleton-Hope said he had recently come under fire for comments on why he had brought up the motion in the first place.

“There have been some reports in news media in regards to comments attributed to me regarding this particular initiative, and I accept those comments fully, and I apologize to my colleagues. The intent was not to embarrass anyone. It was not to point fingers at anyone indicating that they might have taken money from an organization that they should have. That was not the intent of this. The intent of this is to really allow us to have a fulsome look at our boards, committees, and commissions, our time limits on them, to encourage members of council to sit on more than just one or two boards during their tenure, which would allow them a more rounded understanding for the various boards, committees, and commissions.”

Council voted unanimously for the matter to go back to the Governance SPC and then be referred back to City Council by October 31st.