Councillor should cover his own MBA costs

Jon Dziadyk flipped faster than a flapjack Thursday morning when news broke that the rookie councillor was asking taxpayers to foot two-thirds of the $67,000 bill for his executive MBA.

At first, he defended the expense, but within hours he apologized and promised to reimburse the $11,000 covered so far. He said it was wrong for public dollars to support a university degree he’ll benefit from for the rest of his career.

“It was inappropriate ... I feel like I broke the trust of some of my constituents and colleagues,” he said to me Thursday, pledging to continue his studies but foot the full cost of the program himself.

Technically, Dziadyk didn’t break any council rules.

But the expense felt icky, especially for someone who ran in 2017 on a platform of frugality. He already earns $116,000 a year as a councillor.

And though professional development — honing a skill — is good, here Dziadyk is earning a credential. He was gaining too much in the deal.

But this also raises questions about how councillors prepare for a difficult job. They vote on technical issues, rife with emotion and politicking, and jump between many complicated subjects in a matter of hours.

On Tuesday, they voted on expropriating land for the west LRT, emergency management in extreme cold conditions, how to handle ongoing Metro LRT line testing, how to fix the city workforce culture, and whether to step in to save a seniors ride service.

They get reports almost every Thursday and vote as early as the next Monday. On top of that, they’re dealing with development and disputes in the ward.

I empathize with Dziadyk if he feels ill-prepared. But can he effectively represent his ward while also earning a degree?

Dziadyk said the University of Alberta’s executive MBA courses are packed once a month into a four-day weekend, plus several books a month for homework. He argues it’s his family life that suffers, if anything, and shared news of the MBA on his blog in January. The money spent originally came from Dziadyk’s ward budget, a $189,000 discretionary fund meant for covering office expenses, conference fees and other incidentals. He did not consult council’s ethics adviser until Thursday.

I wrestle with this because I want to support an effort to learn. We don’t elect politicians because they’re experts. We elect them for understanding their ward and having our interests at heart. Their job is to bring our perspective to the halls of power.

So when a councillor says, “I need more tools to do this job,” that’s a good thing.

Here’s another story about Dziadyk and learning. Dziadyk has a background in urban planning, not science. So when council debated a new approach to composting grass clippings and yard waste, he struggled to understand how that would change the city’s carbon footprint.

You could see him getting frustrated. Why would composting organic waste in the open air not produce significant amounts of methane, when letting it decompose underground in a landfill does?

The answer is the presence of oxygen. But if you’re not a chemist and this is new, a tense public council meeting is not the easiest place for a crash course in Greenhouse Gas Production 101.

As a taxpayer, I’d happily foot the bill for an hour-long lunch-and-learn.

Here’s another story, this one about Coun. Scott McKeen. He once wanted to take a 12-day, $2,500 course on conflict resolution, figuring it would help him navigate the schisms that can develop between groups of residents in his ward. But he couldn’t make the time, didn’t have the money himself, and didn’t feel it was appropriate to charge taxpayers.

That shows there’s also a risk of being over-sensitive to public spending. Council would work better with training in conflict resolution — maybe as a mini-session for interested council members rather than full certification.

Look at it this way: Dziadyk came back from Christmas vacation while some colleagues were still in Florida and India. He spent four days studying with

Lorne Rubis, chief people officer with ATB Financial, and 30 local business leaders learning the best ways to shift culture in a workplace. Weeks later, he sat in council judging the administration’s response to increased allegations of workplace harassment and pockets of low morale.

Charging taxpayers was a bad call, and already one councillor is calling for the ethics adviser to review council spending rules. But after talking with Dziadyk, I do appreciate what he’s trying to learn. He’s certainly not lazy.

I wrestle with this because I want to support an effort to learn. We don’t elect politicians because they’re experts.