Lacombe Council has recently joined the municipalities that have decided to approve parental leave for council members.

At their regular meeting Monday Council adopted Bylaw 463, a bylaw to establish parental leave for elected officials, after giving it second and third readings.

Lacombe Mayor Grant Creasey said the bylaw is in place to be proactive for future members. He said they didn’t have other municipality programs on their mind when forming the bylaw.

“We didn’t necessarily compare it to a tremendous amount of other municipalities, but just because we thought it was the right thing to do.”

Parental leave taken under this bylaw shall not exceed 16 consecutive weeks, unless extensions are granted at Council’s discretion. During parental leave, Council members will receive 55 per cent of their base monthly honorarium that they would have otherwise received.

Creasey said he doesn’t believe this bylaw will affect any members for a while to come.

“For the immediate future I think there will be very little impact, but it does I think speak highly towards progressive thinking, a group of elected officials that see this as an opportunity to permit more involvement in the future.”

He said removing these barriers creates more opportunities for those looking to run for office in the years to come.

Blackfalds also recently passed a parental leave bylaw for elected officials back in July this year.