Kincardine councillor loses month's pay for violating code of conduct

Kincardine councillor Gordon Campbell has lost a month's salary for violating the Council Code of Conduct.

In committee-of-the-whole last night (March 1), integrity commissioner Robert J. Swayze gave his report, noting that Campbell had contravened three sections of the code, undermining confidence in the municipality by participating in a legal action against the municipality as a member of council; and contravened another three sections of the code in abusing members of staff in the workplace and falsely impugning their professional reputation.

He recommended that 30 days of the compensation paid to Campbell, as a member of council, be suspended commencing from the next pay period.

Swayze also warned that if the councillor's abusive behaviour toward staff continues and Swayze receives another complaint, “I will recommend a larger suspension of his compensation.”

Mayor Anne Eadie said the integrity commissioner was called in because the informal process failed to resolve the situation.

Before discussion of the report, Campbell declared a conflict of interest and left the council chamber.

The complaints against Campbell were filed by chief administrative officer Murray Clarke and water and wastewater supervisor Shamus Anderson.

In his report, Swayze said he was appointed in October, and usually completes his investigation in 90 days but accepted the request by Campbell for a second personal interview in December, which caused the delay.

During his interview with Clarke, Swayze heard there was a 10-year history of Campbell abusing staff, leading to an intervention by a human resource consultant. A report from the consultant in early 2016 resulted in an apology by the councillor and “an undertaking to curb his abusive and harassing behaviour.”

The complaints filed by Clarke and Anderson stem from incidents that happened in the fall.

Sept. 15, 2016, statements were made by Campbell at a McDonald's Restaurant and overheard by a witness interviewed by Swayze. Campbell was critical of Clarke and Anderson for their treatment of one of his constituents which caused the resident to commence a lawsuit against the municipality. Clarke alleged that these statements were a continuation of the abuse of staff and that Campbell's support of the legal action against the municipality constituted a conflict of interest.

The legal action was brought against the municipality by a citizen concerning actions or lack of action by municipal staff in accordance with a policy approved by council requiring the replacement of old water meters, applicable to all property owners in the municipality. The policy requires the landowners to locate the meter at their cost.

The citizen was charged extra for continuing with an old hidden water meter, in accordance with the policy, and staff refused to attend at the property to locate it. Campbell accused staff of improper procedure in a letter which identified himself as a councillor, and it was given to the plaintiff for filing with the court.

Swayze said he concluded that all action by staff in this matter was in accordance with municipal policy. The claim was ultimately dismissed by the court.

Oct. 16, 2016, at a meeting to discuss an invoice, attended by a contractor and Anderson, Campbell told Anderson that he failed to do his job and shouldn't be in his current position. The contractor had employed a method known as “hydro excavating” to locate a plastic pipe installed years ago without trace wire. This is the generally-accepted practice in the trade, but Campbell disagreed with the cost of such a procedure. He expressed his opinion that finding a line between a well and a building required only a backhoe because it was likely installed in a straight line.

Dec. 15, 2016, in a meeting with Clarke, Anderson and another meeting of staff, Campbell asked for some customer information which Anderson said he didn't have. Campbell then started shouting at Clarke and Anderson saying, “What good are you if you can't provide account information.”

Last night, Swayze said he took no pleasure in writing this report. He was most concerned with the complaints concerning abuse of staff.

“Any member of council can be critical of staff but you have to do it appropriately,” he said. “The concerns must go to senior staff first and be dealt with through the proper process.”

Swayze said he was originally going to just issue a warning, but since this is a second offence, a warning was not going to work here.

“I am recommending you suspend his salary for 30 days,” he said, “and if this continues, I'll be back. This has got to stop.”

Councillor Laura Haight said the integrity commissioner position is fairly new.

Swayze said he has been doing this since 2008. “I do the investigation independent of staff and council and then report to council. The reports are public, so there's accountability and transparency as required by the province and all municipalities.”

Deputy mayor Jacqueline Faubert noted that the commissioner acts on only the issues in the complaints for which he has been retained by the municipality.

“I'm entitled to look at the history prior to my being retained, as part of my investigation,” said Swayze,

As to the penalty, he said he could have gone as high as 90 days of suspended pay.

“We did try the more informal process at the start, but it didn't work,” said Eadie. “That's why we brought in the integrity commissioner. It's very difficult when it involves a member of council.”

Clarke said he wanted to make further comments that would be important for all of council to hear. However, Eadie said there would be no comments by him or Campbell, given the final report from the integrity commissioner.

Haight said she shared Swayze's unease about this situation. “Even this issue (integrity commissioner's report) was addressed at McDonald's yesterday morning.”

In a recorded vote, committee-of-the-whole adopted the recommendation from the integrity commissioner for Campbell to lose a month's pay for violating the Council Code of Conduct. In the 7-1 vote, councillor Randy Roppel was the lone voice against.

That was endorsed later by council, with the same recorded vote, 7-1, in favour of the recommendation.