Coun. Connie Nykyforak took issue last night with the city's decision to include a report on integrity complaints against her and two former councillors in the public council agenda.
"I am very concerned that city administration and the mayor permitted this report to be publicly posted on the open session of the agenda for this meeting without fully understanding the consequences of their actions," Nykyforak, told council.
Last week, an Integrity Report was made public in the agenda for Monday night's council meeting. The report addressed complaints registered by Michael Humble, now former corporate services director, against former council members Scot Reinhardt and Candace Martin. Also included in the report was a complaint from Humble against Martin, Reinhardt and Nykyforak.
"Mr. Humble submitted his complaint to Mr. Swayze on Sept. 19, four days after the resignation of councillor Martin. My first notification of this complaint came from Mr. Swayze via e-mail on Oct. 10, directing me to respond no later than Oct. 23, which I complied with," said Nykyforak. "I had no prior knowledge of any complaints as I had made it clear to council that I did not feel that the process of the engagement of an Integrity Commissioner was an effective or defined process that council was implementing."
Nykyforak told council she believes having this report made public breaches confidentiality laws. She also states, in her ten page response to the report which she read out to council, that the public report has damaged her reputation and undermined her authority as a councillor. She also asked council to reconsider the role of an Integrity Commissioner.
"Based on the quality of Mr. Swayze's report, I would encourage council to reconsider the Integrity Commissioner process and ensure a qualified review of the policies completed that an educational process is implemented for the public, our committees, our council and also staff. I believe that the manner he has chosen to handle the alleged complaint has discredited my ability as a councillor that will impact my relations with other council members and staff. In addition, this report has resulted in negative social media posts and has damaged my reputation," Nykyforak told council.
As it stands, since Reinhardt, Martin and Humble have resigned from their positions within the city, Swayze is not continuing his investigation.
Some spoke in favour of making the report public.
Councillor Tammy VanRoon said she is especially glad the report is finally out.
"I'm glad it has come out," she said. "As a person that was party to those events, I firmly believe members of the public have a right to know what was going on at the time. That has been the toughest time of my entire life. Before I was elected, I was asked what my thoughts were on an Integrity Commissioner. At the time, my thoughts were: 'council members are adults. They're perfectly capable of policing themselves'. I learned, rather quickly, that I was wrong."
Mayor Dan Marchisella said councillors are in a "fish bowl." He also explained that during the meetings that were mentioned in the report, not only were there three complaints filed, but four.
"We received four complaints and this (report) only addresses three complaints," he said. There is a potential for another report to be coming, too, in the future."