Coun. Clare Riepma was reprimanded for violating city council’s code of conduct involving personal emails used for election purposes and docked 15 days' pay for another set of code infractions for his attempted influence on a proposed Yonge Street development, Barrie city council has decided.
Council followed the advice of integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig, in two separate reports, to make these decisions Wednesday night.
There was no discussion by councillors on these matters, but Mayor Alex Nuttall did make remarks before the decisions were made.
“We really do need to make sure that we are both respecting the expectations the public have for us and living within them, and at the same time we are giving each other the grace when we step out, whether intentionally or unintentionally,” Nuttall said. “And that was a big part of what I said in my first comments after being sworn in (as Barrie mayor in 2022) and I think it’s very important that we all take that approach going forward.
“You are members of council,” he added. “You have the opportunity to say and to weigh in when offered and that’s not being taken away whatsoever. But I would just encourage everybody around the table to … respect any reports from (city) officers especially this officer (Craig) and to live within the bounds, but also to grant each other the grace because God knows that I myself am not perfect and I know none of us are, so I will leave that there.”
City clerk Wendy Cooke said Craig was attending the meeting virtually, but was not providing a presentation or remarks concerning her reports from the two investigations. She was available to respond to questions of clarification only, except there were no questions.
“The member (Riepma) has opted not to provide comments this evening on either matter,” Cooke said.
Riepma declared a conflict of interest on each matter and did not participate in either vote, in which council received each report by Craig.
Council received Craig’s first report, Riepma was given a penalty of a reprimand and has to take remedial action. This includes that he provide, in writing to the clerk by Oct. 31, his acknowledgement that use of the city’s computer network, including the city’s email system, including its website and social media to distribute election-related correspondence or record election-related messages is prohibited, and that distribution or contact lists developed utilizing City of Barrie corporate resources or through contact in an elected official’s role cannot be used for election purposes.
Craig found that Riepma used email addresses obtained for city business in his capacity as councillor, as well as the use of his barrie.ca email address, for election purposes.
The report involving the Yonge Street project, also received by council, made several allegations in respect of the Riepma’s use of influence, conduct respecting city staff and conduct with respect to a rezoning application involving density calculations.
The complaint alleged that Riepma, a licensed planner, used his knowledge and status as a professional planner to request that staff change the approved policy parameters in order to generate data for consideration that was favourable to his opinion.
The complaint also alleged that this action constituted Riepma’s improper use of influence of office through his attempt to interfere with the professional role of staff to advise based on objectivity and without undue influence from any individual member or faction of council.
While the person making the complaint about personal emails is not specifically named in Craig’s report, Coun. Sergio Morales said he made the complaint about Riepma concerning the unspecified Yonge Street project, when asked by BarrieToday.
A reprimand is a penalty under the Municipal Act, a strongly worded condemnation of a member of council.
The dollar value of 15 days of pay suspension to Riepma is unknown.
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.
This past March, Craig found Riepma had disclosed confidential general committee minutes from Oct. 20, 2020 to a member of the public. The documents dealt with confidential personal information and a solicitor-client privilege matter related to a workplace investigation.
But Craig found Riepma’s actions were unintentional, the code of conduct complaint came too late and the Ward 1 councillor wasn’t penalized.
In March 2021, Morales was reprimanded by council for comments he made to former councillor Keenan Aylwin. Morales also apologized to Aylwin.
