Despite public perception, the behaviour of Barrie councillors falls in line with the city’s code of conduct.
That’s the conclusion of integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig in her annual report, which council members will consider at Monday night’s meeting.
“The rules of the code are being followed, the process for holding members accountable is in place and is effective,” Craig writes in her report. “The principles of accountability and transparency, which are codified in the city’s governance model, provide the public with the assurance of integrity in the city’s decision-making processes.
“There have been issues of concern with respect to member conduct in this reporting year, however there has been no member of council that has wilfully ignored the requests of the office or disrespected the recommendations I have made,” she said.
The code of conduct is an agreed-upon understanding by all members of Barrie city council about what standards they should meet in the individual conduct of their official duties. It also applies to the behaviour of members of city committees and boards.
Craig said her office received nine formal code complaints last year and seven between Jan. 1, 2022 and May 31, 2022. She grouped these complaints into one report because this is a city election year and this council will do little real business past the end of June, when councillors head for summer break.
This council essentially becomes ‘lame duck’ when election nominations close Aug. 19.
Craig noted in her report, however, that not all conduct and behaviour of councillors is the responsibility of her office.
“It is important to underscore that this office receives and investigates matters of conduct of individual members of council and local boards in respect to the rules of the code,” she said in her report.
“If a matter is not, on its face, a code matter, in other words, if the matter relates to closed meeting deliberations and who may remain during such a meeting, or whether the city should consider one location over another for the site of a community service or whether the city is addressing allegations of harassment, if and unless the matter lies within the jurisdiction of the code as written, the integrity commissioner does not have the power to receive and investigate the matter," Craig added.
Craig acknowledged that Barrie residents want more to be done.
“The public believe there should be greater oversight and/or penalties for certain matters relating to members of council,” she said.
There’s little doubt the integrity commissioner’s office has been in the middle of the controversy surrounding the behaviour of some city councillors and other committee/board officials.
Just more than a year ago, for example, Coun. Sergio Morales said the integrity commissioner’s office was being hijacked by those wanting to bring damage to people they disagree with politically, and that these people were being targeted.
Just a few months earlier, again in 2021, Morales himself was reprimanded by council, on Craig’s advice, and told to apologize for comments he made to Coun. Keenan Aylwin the previous summer. A reprimand is a penalty under the Municipal Act, a strongly worded condemnation of a member of council.
About the same time, Craig said former Barrie mayor Rob Hamilton (2003-06) should be removed as Downtown Barrie BIA chairman for a derogatory remark “toward Black people," and offensive comments about the homeless, made at a BIA meeting the previous September. Hamilton resigned before city council dealt with the matter.
Conversely, the integrity commissioner has played no active role in a workplace harassment situation involving a city employee and a Barrie councillor.
Mike McCann has denied all claims against him in a $200,000 lawsuit by Amanda Kelly, 32, a senior business and entrepreneurship officer, filed earlier this year, that alleges sexual assault and harassment. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
In April, Barrie councillors supported a provincial bill to create a process for municipal councils to remove their members who violate workplace violence and harassment policies — the Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act.
In late 2020, a settlement was reached following an investigation into workplace harassment involving a city employee and a city councillor. Neither was identified, however, in the motion council approved.
