Province reviewing municipal integrity rules, as several councils in the northeast punish their own

In November, Kirkland Lake town councillor Rick Owen apologized for disrespectful and mocking comments about municipal staff.

Just a few months after losing 30 days pay for violating the code of conduct, he was the town's acting mayor last week, presiding over a discussion of what to do with Mayor Pat Kiely.

The mayor was found by Kirkland Lake's integrity commissioner to have illegally circulated a confidential report to councillors and town employees. The mayor is now on leave. 

Last week, councillors talked about an email Kiely had sent them, which they interpreted as a threat of legal action if they decided to punish him by docking his pay or any other reprimand.

"I look at this threat as not an idle threat, but an attack on the democratic process," Owen told council, which voted to just move on. 

Owen says he understands the stress Kiely is feeling, not being allowed to discuss the investigation, but being asked frequently about it in a small town. 

"Yes I broke some rules. I've tried to make corrections where I was wrong," says Owen, whose investigation went on for nine months and cost taxpayers $27,000. 

"That's the way the system is supposed to work."

Last week, the system was also at work in Mattawa, where long-time Mayor Dean Backer was stripped of 90 days salary for breaking the code of conduct last year when he confronted town staff regarding a municipal employee the mayor is related to. 

"I am human. I made a mistake in getting involved. My emotions got the best of me and for that I apologize," Backer told council. 

Elliot Lake has had more integrity commissioner investigations in the two years since they became mandatory than many big cities in Ontario.

Right now, the commissioner is pursuing conflict-of-interest charges against two city councillors, Ed Pearce and Chris Patrie.

They are paying for their own legal defence, but the city has to foot the bill for the prosecution of those charges, which has so far cost $350,000.

Mayor Dan Marchisella says since Elliot Lake is bound to follow provincial law, it should be Queen's Park that pays. 

"Smaller municipalities can't afford some of these crazy tickets," says Marchisella.

He is urging Elliot Lake councillors to make that point to the province, as it embarks on a review of the municipal code of conduct, which is being led by the Associate Minister of Children and Women's Issues and is focused on the harassment of staff.

Greater Sudbury city councillor Mike Jakubo welcomes the review and would like to see a uniform code of conduct for all cities and towns in Ontario. 

"There can be air of untouchability that some elected officials associate with that office," he says. 

"You are not a city manager. You are not in charge of the snowplowing department. You are there to set policy."

Jakubo says a safer workplace at city and town halls will also make it easier to keep municipal workers from jumping to the private sector or better-paying public service jobs. 

"It can get costly and a bit nasty and I don't think that was the original intent," says retired University of Western Ontario political science professor Andrew Sancton.

He does feel the system is "going relatively well" however, with the investigations being "weaponized" in some cities and towns and barely used at all in the past two years in others.

A Liberal MPP has also tabled a private member's bill that would see a judge called in to decide the discipline for some mayors and councillors, which right now is left up to their fellow councillors.

Sancton says that makes it "more and more complicated" and says we may just have to "live with an imperfect system"