Chilliwack Mayor A Hero or Just Doing Her Job?

There has been quite a bit of press in the last few days about the mayor of Chilliwack, British Columbia and her turning down some extremely nice sounding Olympic swag. Articles like this one on BCLocalNews.com have repeatedly told the story of how Mayor Sharon Gaetz was extended lavish invitations to the Olympics by the B.C. lottery as well as by BC Transmission Corporation. Knowing the rules on the receipt of gifts - and, as importantly, knowing the reasons for those rules being in place - she turned the offers down as she knew that she needed to.

I think the press she has received has been terrific since no one can really be over-reinforced for doing the right thing. Not only that but the press coverage helps to hold her up as a more visible model for how municipal officials should act. For both of those reasons, she is fully deserving of every ounce of praise she's gotten and more. On the other hand, is she a municipal government hero or was she simply doing her job? I suppose the answer is... yes. Heroes are those who do what others don't have the courage, conviction, or stamina to do. She certainly meets that standard. Yet, I have to agree with her own assessment that the outpouring of support for someone for simply being honest and working by the rules is rather sad. Her actions shouldn't need to be seen as unusual - she was, in fact, just doing her job.

As long as the public sees Mayor Gaetz' actions as 'above and beyond the call of duty', we have a long ways to go in assuring the public that municipal officials and employees are persistently willing and able to do the right thing. That will take a continued focus on developing and implementing better ethics training programs for municipal officials and employees as well as a continued emphasis on both oversight and enforcement of ethics codes.

In the meantime, though, congratulations to Mayor Gaetz for both being a hero and doing her job!