Collingwood laywer says town won't sign confidentiality agreement regarding Collus employee information

Simcoe.com
Aug. 10, 2016
By John Edwards  

The Town of Collingwood is refusing to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding employee information related to Collus Powerstream.

In February, council approved a shareholders directive calling on Powerstream to divulge a variety of information relating to the development of a shared services agreement. The request was looking for a list all employees, salaries and bonuses paid to employees over the last 10 years; an organizational chart; any bonuses paid to officers; employment reviews; all other compensation; and policies and procedures relating to compensation.

Collingwood CAO John Brown read a memo from town lawyer Jean Leonard on Monday, outlining the status of the request.

Leonard said in her memo that Powerstream is requesting the town sign a confidentiality agreement, which would limit access to the information by the municipality.

“If the town were to agree to these terms it would be precluded from taking any steps even in the event the information provided under the shareholders declaration in the town’s opinion warranted further investigation,” Leonard wrote. “Furthermore, the confidentiality restrictions apply to all employee information to be provided, including information relating to the period when the town was the sole owner of Collingwood PowerStream Utility Services Corp. and its subsidiaries.”

Eric Fagen, vice president of corporate communications for Powerstream said the company is willing to sign off on the shareholders declaration.

“Subject to confidentially and employee privacy being maintained,” he said.

In her memo, Leonard said if the confidentiality agreement was breached, one of the parties could seek an injunction against the other.

“It is not reasonable in my opinion for a 50 per cent shareholder to dictate to the other 50 per cent shareholder how information is to managed,” she said. “In my view, the town’s reasonable request to obtain information about companies it owns is being thwarted repeatedly by PowerStream. I am at a loss to explain why this is the case.”

John Olthuis, manager, customer communications and marketing for Powerstream said as a private company, employee salaries are generally private.

“Collus Powerstream is a separate entity, it’s a separate business,” he said. “Yes the town does own 50 per cent of it, but typically as far as information is concerned in any private business, you can’t just walk up and ask them how much you’re paying employees.”

He said even though there is a municipal stake by other municipalities, all members of council aren’t privy to salary information.

“I think there is a bit of misunderstanding there perhaps,” she said. “I don’t believe we’re holding back. There are municipal representatives on our (Powerstream) board. I don’t think they’re privy to any operating information to the company. It’s not like we’re hiding anything.”

Brown told council he would update them on the next steps during an in-camera session.

According to Brown, town lawyers have made progress on the development of a shared services agreement, which would see the utility company provide services to the municipality.

“As of July 19, our lawyer is satisfied with the provisions of the shared services agreement,” he said.

The agreement still needs to be reviewed by PowerStream senior management.