The city’s integrity commissioner received two complaints about the behaviour of council members last year, with one withdrawn and another dismissed due to “insufficient evidence” of a code of conduct violation.
The complaints are outlined in a report from John Mascarin of Aird & Berlis LLP heading to council on Monday evening, covering all of 2021.
One complaint alleged a member of council, who is not identified in the report, “withheld information and sought to improperly influence” the sale of a municipal property and subsequent re-zoning application.
A review of the complaint, explains the report, found it to be “deficient” due to the absence of a sworn declaration as well as identification of the specific aspects of the code of conduct alleged to have been breached.
“We advised the complainant that they could resubmit a complaint and provided information to them with respect to the proper procedures for filing a complaint, but the complainant chose to withdraw their complaint, specifically noting that the complaint procedure was too onerous,” the report states.
The second complaint alleged a member of council violated confidentiality rules.
That complaint was dismissed following a review of recordings of the open and closed council sessions noted in the complaint, which turned up “insufficient evidence” to establish a “reasonable basis” for determining a violation had been made.
