city of ELLIOTT LAKE integrity commissioner, ROBERT J. SWAYZE
INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER REPORT
Notice: Municipal Integrity Commissioners provide investigation reports to their respective municipal council and, in most cases, make recommendations for imposition of penalty or other remedial action to the municipal Council. Therefore, reference should be made to the minutes of each particular municipal council to obtain information about the particular council's consideration of each report. When possible, a link to the relevant municipal council minutes is provided.
Please find below the link to the corresponding council decision.
http://suite.esolutionsgroup.ca/Module/Calendar/Document/Download/2cb45628-25b2-47af-b444-0134fce4d2a8 (see page 4)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RECOMMENDATION.. 3
BACKGROUND.. 3
Humble v. Reinhardt 3
Humble v. Reinhardt, Martin and Nykyforak. 4
DISCUSSION.. 5
CONCLUSION.. 5
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council receive the report of the Integrity Commissioner dated December 6, 2017, pertaining to complaints and requests for investigation against three members of Council filed by Michael Humble, when he was Director of Corporate Services.
BACKGROUND
I was appointed Integrity Commissioner by agreement with effect from August 10, 2017 and authorized for execution by By-law 17-44 passed on August 8, 2017. The Code of Conduct for Members of Council was adopted by Council according to By-law 16-74 passed on December 12, 2016. (the “Code”)
Humble v. Reinhardt
On August 30, 2017 I received three complaints and requests to investigate in the form of sworn declarations, from Michael Humble, then the Director of Corporate Services and Interim CAO. The complaints alleged that Mr. Scot Reinhardt, then a member of Council, contravened the Code by continually harassing Mr. Humble as a member of staff. Section 6 d. of the Code provides as follows:
“No member shall use or attempt to use their authority or influence for the purpose of intimidating, threatening, coercing, commanding, or influencing a staff member with the intent of interfering with that persons duties, including the duty to disclose improper activity.”
The three complaints are summarized as follows:
On July 5, 2017 after an evening Library Board meeting, Mr. Humble received a call from Mr. Reinhardt who was extremely agitated and angry. He demanded that Mr. Humble immediately terminate the employment of two senior staff members of the Elliot Lake Library and to remove 4 members from the Library Board for accepting harassment complaints from their staff against Councillor Nykyforak, the Council representative on the Library Board. Councillor Nykyforak also participated in this telephone conversation. Mr. Humble quite properly refused to take any action.
On July 13th, 2017 Mr. Reinhardt telephoned Mr. Humble complaining about Mr. Humble’s participation in the writing of a report recommending procedural change in the City and adopting a Committee of the Whole model, common to many municipalities. The recommendation had been approved by Council on July 10 and it was obvious that Mr. Reinhardt had not read the report until his telephone call. Mr. Humble reported that “he was extremely rude, loud and aggressive, yelling and stating numerous times that “this was f___ing ridiculous.
On July 18th, 2017, Mr. Reinhardt walked into Mr. Humble’s office and closed the door. He advised that he had been “working with the Director of Community Services for a number of weeks to assist her with her operational activities” and he told Mr. Humble that he should fire four employees of that department, which he named. Mr. Humble refused, advising Mr. Reinhardt that he took his direction from Council as a whole and not one Councillor.
In accordance with the Code, I served these three complaints on Councillor Reinhardt before his resignation and requested a response within two weeks. He advised me that he was unable to respond within the two weeks because he was busy and because of health reasons. I offered to give him more time but received no further reply.
Mr. Reinhardt resigned as a Councillor effective October 1, 2017.
Humble v. Reinhardt, Martin and Nykyforak
On September 19, 2017 I received a complaint from Mr. Humble against Councillors Reinhardt, Martin and Nykyforak for workplace harassment in that one or all of them requested and participated in three closed session meetings of Council which excluded him as Interim CAO. The first of these meetings was held on July 26, 2017 following my serving of the above referred to complaints on
Councillor Reinhardt. Subsequent meetings were held on August 8 and September 15, 2017.
Councillor Martin resigned as a member of Council on September 15, 2017.
It is Mr. Humble’s submission to me that the meetings were called by the three Councillors in retaliation for his filing the complaints against Councillor Reinhardt and to terminate his employment. In the last of these three meetings, on a majority vote of Council, his title of Interim CAO was removed and all directors were to report directly to Council until a CAO was recruited.
Mr. Humble has no direct evidence of what was discussed in these meetings. I have reviewed the minutes and have decided that it is not in the public interest for me to disclose the debate that occurred. I have reached this decision because two of the three Councillors have resigned and Mr. Humble has also resigned to take employment elsewhere.
Also included in this complaint, specifically against Councillor Nykyforak, is an allegation that she continues with her “back room direction to staff without the approval or consent of Council as a whole”.
I was assisted in my investigation by Mr. Humble and found him to be restrained and professional throughout. I regard his resignation as an unfortunate loss to the City. At the time when he was still interim CAO, he accepted that he had a conflict as a complainant and directed me to deal with the Director of Human Resources as my staff contact. She also assisted me and displayed professionalism, going out of her way to cooperate with me.
DISCUSSION
I served the September 19th complaint on Councillor Martin at her request notwithstanding that she resigned her seat on Council on September 15, 2017 and received a lengthy document in response. Because of her resignation, I have decided not to proceed with an investigation of the complaint against her and have omitted from this report most of the allegations made by Mr. Humble. Accordingly I do not find it necessary to deal with her response. It is a matter of record that she attended the three meetings and this report has only been factual regarding her participation in the activities referred to in this report.
I also received an extensive response to the complaint from Councillor Nykyforak and have carefully reviewed it. She broadly discusses the split on Council, the incompetence of certain members of Council, as well as a condemnation of Mr. Humble as a member of staff. I find her to be confused as to her role as a member of Council.
On August 10, 2017 a memo was prepared and signed by both the Mayor and Mr. Humble addressed to Council and Staff requesting that Councillors refrain from involvement in day to day operations of staff and that they not contact staff below the level of Director. I have experience with many municipalities making the same request which is a benefit to both staff in their busy schedule and to Councillors who receive the best information from experienced senior staff. In her response, Councillor Nykyforak makes the following statement:
“I took great offence to this memo as it not only undermined the office of Council but also created a very unhealthy working environment for staff by being directed to Mr. Humble's office prior to any contact. . . ”
She then requested a Council meeting in camera to discuss this memo which was refused by Mr. Humble as being contrary to the Municipal Act.
In her response, Councillor Nykyforak also claimed to have experience in administration and described her interaction with junior staff not as directing them but as “helping” them and much “appreciated” by them. It is hoped after reading this report, that Councillor Nykyforak will understand that she has absolutely no part to play in the staff chain of command of the City.
CONCLUSION
I was pleased to learn that a new Chief Administrative Officer has been hired starting on January 2, 2018 and that Council received competent training recently on municipal governance. I have decided that it is not in the public interest for me to continue this investigation beyond filing this factual report. With a new CAO starting, in my opinion it is best for the City to make a fresh start with the Code in the new year. For this reason, I hereby dismiss the four complaints filed by Mr. Humble. By dismissing these complaints it is not intended by me to suggest that a full investigation was completed or that I have found no wrong doing. The reason I have decided to dismiss the complaints is primarily to support the opportunity for Council to start anew on the right foot with a new CAO and learn from past mistakes. None of the respondents to the complaints should in any way claim vindication by the dismissal.
However, I wish to make it clear and warn all members of Council that I will approach any future complaints and enforce the Code strictly on the basis that Council is all powerful but an individual Councillor has no power except one vote. Members have no part to play in the staff chain of command ending with the CAO. Any experience or qualifications a Councillor may have should be channelled towards persuading a majority of their colleagues on Council to support their ideas.
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Swayze
Integrity Commissioner