Vaughan staff fear reprisals for speaking out: Integrity Commissioner

Annual report shows spike in staff 'inquiries', but they're reluctant to file formal complaints

YorkRegion.com
Oct. 11, 2016
By Adam Martin-Robbins

City staffers are turning to Vaughan’s ethics watchdog in record numbers to bring forward concerns about potential wrongdoing by council members, but they continue to fear backlash if they file an official complaint.

 Integrity Commissioner Suzanne Craig’s latest annual report, presented to councillors last week, says she received 80 “inquiries” about issues related to Vaughan’s code of ethical conduct for members of council from city staff in 2015.

That was up from 52 inquiries in 2014.

“I haven’t broken it down in the report, but they deal with issues of improper use of influence,” Craig said in an interview. “The allegation has been: Councillor x has improperly used their office to influence this decision. They (also) deal with conduct respecting staff ... and they deal with business relations (such as): I think councillor so and so has a business relationship with such and such a person and is improperly having this individual lobby or is being lobbied by this individual.”

Craig noted while city staff are coming forward with concerns they often stop short of filing formal or informal complaints, which would trigger a full-blown investigation.

According to the report, she received just four formal complaints and 14 informal complaints last year.

“There is a concern about the levels of trust,” Craig said. “(Staff are asking,) ‘If I bring forward a concern as it relates to me as a staff person as this goes through the complaint process how protected am I from reprisals?’ Whether or not it is the case, certainly it is the perception of staff there is a lack of protection for them.”

The same issue was highlighted, earlier this year, in an auditor’s review of the city’s anonymous tip line and last year in a governance survey, which found “fewer than 50 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that ‘prompt communication of mistakes, bad news and other related information is given to those who need to know without fear of reprisal.’”

Craig also noted in her report staff residents are coming to her in large numbers with issues or concerns beyond her jurisdiction to deal with.

In 2015, Craig saw 320 inquiries about such matters. The bulk of those, 263, came from members of the public, while 57 came from staff.

She concludes since the city is using the provincial ombudsman to investigate complaints about matters beyond her jurisdiction, residents and staff lack a “local channel” through which to raise their concerns, so they’re coming to her instead.

“The city may have complaint processes in place, but why are people not using those complaint processes? It’s not sufficient to say, ‘We’ve got them in place, they’re right here,’” Craig said. “Well, if you’ve got them in place, and they’re right here, and people continue to come to my office (with complaints) you have to ask yourself, council, why is that?”

Maple/Kleinburg Councillor Marilyn Iafrate finds these trends disconcerting.

“Members of the public and staff continue to seek, and I think the key word was, a reprisal-free process and that’s what we really need to make sure we get across to our staff. Has it been well articulated … I don’t think so because everybody’s going to the integrity commissioner because they feel it’s their greatest sense of security,” she said.

“That’s a huge one and it still concerns me because we worked really hard, at least since I’ve been on council it’s been my focus, to try and change the culture at city hall. That openness and transparency all adds to the culture change and we’re just not there yet.”

But Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua takes a different view, saying the city has come a long way in the last few years.

“If people are coming forward, I view it as a positive thing, I don’t view it as a negative thing, because people are indeed feeling comfortable to express their point of view,” he said. “It’s an ongoing process and you need to embrace that. I’ve never seen an organization that is perfect and I think you always have to work toward perfection and try to give people as many tools as you possibly can. I think we’re adding the right pieces to the equation of city building as it relates to a transparent, an open government.”

The integrity commissioner’s full report, is available on the city’s website.