Last November Elliot Lake City Council voted to kick Councillor Chris Patrie off all city committees and external boards he once served on, as part of an Integrity Commissioner sanction recommendation. It was in light of his well-documented breaches.
Patrie and fellow Councillor Ed Pearce remain before the courts following an exhaustive Integrity Commissioner investigation conducted by the city's former Integrity Commissioner, E4M, of Sault Ste. Marie.
The city has since substituted E4M for Tony Fleming of the Kingston law firm, Cunningham Swan.
Mr. Fleming recommended that Elliot Lake Council approve releasing a report written by a third party lawyer from the Toronto law firm Aird Berlis, in the complicated legal scenario.
To do so, at its Monday night Virtual Meeting, City Council voted to suspend it's right to client lawyer privilege so Aird Berlis lawyer John Mascarin's legal opinion could be made public.
The once-confidential four-page lawyer's letter has now been posted on Elliot Lake's city website, on the IC page.
In his letter, Mr. Mascarin wrote, "Council considered the Investigation Report and passed Resolution No. 432/19 to endorse the Integrity Commissioner's recommendations concerning Councillor Patrie by removing him 'from any and all municipal committees, boards or commissions, except those that consist of all members of Council.' This included Councillor Patrie's removal from the ADSAB (Algoma District Services Administration Board)."
He continued, "Councillor Patrie had deliberately subverted his ethical obligations both under the Code of Conduct and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. The contraventions were found to be 'pervasive and multi-faceted."
One of the other facts that came out of Monday night's council meeting, was that ADSAB had failed to enforce the council decision to remove Patrie as one of the city's four reps on the 12-member board. There's no indication that anything has changed since last November.
Mayor Dan Marchisella, ADSAB Chair, Councillor Norman Mann, Councillor Luc Cyr and Councillor Patrie were all commissioned to sit on ADSAB, in 2018.
Since Patrie insisted on sitting on the board in defiance of his subsequent council-ordered sanction, Councillor Tom Turner who was appointed to replace him, has been unable to carry out his duties or receive his honorarium. Patrie's most recent ADSAB appearance was on May 7.
Councillor Ed Pearce said, "Councillor Patrie, in my opinion, is just playing games and it's time for him to stop. I strongly request that members of our council that sit on ADSAB get this straightened around."