Yellowknife (Mar 28/03) - Changes the GNWT has proposed to municipal government legislation are more like a 'paint job' than a full 'house cleaning,' said Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs says the proposed legislation will, among many other things, broaden bylaw making powers for local governments, and create greater ability of councils to set rules for procedure.

Van Tighem says these changes are welcome, but most of the updates are in wording.

"It's updating existing legislation, taking something that has gotten old and dusty and dusting it off and shining it up," he said.

"There's a difference between must or shall or may," he added. "In the drafting of legislation these things are critical for the way insurers look at things."

A study done by the NWT Association of Communities showed that the existing legislation needed better wording to protect communities.

For example to say a community 'should' be responsible for something, as opposed to 'may,' increases that community's liability.

Van Tighem added he thinks communities within the NWT are achieving a level of maturity "that allows them to do things differently than they would have at the time the legislation was passed. It's to represent that."

The proposed amendments cover the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, the Hamlets Act, and the Charter Communities Act.

The Settlements Act is still under development MACA said.

The GNWT said the changes to the municipal governance bills will be ready in June, and are intended to "modernize" current legislation.