City staff asked to investigate impact a deputy mayor could have on county council voting

TheObserver.ca
Aug. 8, 2016
By Barbara Simpson

Sarnia city council appears to be readying itself in case it needs to take drastic action once the results of a workplace harassment investigation at city hall are released.

City/county Coun. Anne Marie Gillis requested Monday a staff report be prepared outlining a process to appoint a deputy mayor or executive committee of council.

Last month, city council held off on appointing a deputy mayor after it reviewed a staff report examining council's options, but at Monday's meeting, Gillis secured council support to get staff to revisit the discussion.

“We have another big report coming out, so we're just trying to put things in place in case we have to do something over and above what we've already done, but we don't want to get to a position where we have the big report and we have to wait another three months to figure out what we have to do because if you're going to change your procedural bylaw, there is a process that's involved,” Gillis said following Monday's meeting.

In late June, city council voted in favour of suspending Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley's pay for 90 days after the city's integrity commissioner found Bradley had breached council's code of conduct based on complaints made by two former senior city staffers.

A second city hall investigation - this one being conducted by a human resources consultant - is now underway to examine workplace harassment complaints.

As the result of that investigation, Gillis said council could be in the position to “impose” a deputy mayor who could also fill Bradley's shoes on county council.

City staff have now been tasked to investigate how such a move would impact voting at county council.

Five city politicians - including the mayor and four members of council - currently serve on county council. Under the county's weighted voting system, each city representative's vote is actually worth three votes due to the city's population.

“If it's a [city/]county councillor that becomes deputy mayor, does that county councillor who has three votes assume the other three, so you'd end up with six votes?” Gillis said. “That's the issue.”

Even if council isn't forced to act, Gillis said council may still want to appoint either a deputy mayor or an executive committee of council to liaise with city manager Marg Misek-Evans.

In his report to council, city integrity commissioner Robert Swayze made that recommendation based on his opinion that Bradley had previously interfered with the city manager's duties.

“(The recommendation) might be something we want to act upon, so (with a process) we have a way to act upon it and right now we don't,” Gillis said.

City Coun. Mike Kelch said Monday he welcomed the discussion around the creation of a deputy mayor position, but he didn't see the value in revisiting the idea of an executive committee of council to liaise with the city manager.

A city staff report presented to council last month outlined several challenges with the creation of an executive committee. Those included the requirement that its meetings would have to be open to the public because it would be a committee made up of at least 50 per cent of city council members.

The coordination of meeting times, agendas and notices to the public would also be a “heavy burden on staff,” according to the report.

“We have two years and change left in this term, and we have a lot of work ahead of us as a council and our staff has a ton of work to do in regard to Centennial Park, Bayside, and the list goes on and on,” Kelch said.

“I'm really sensitive about sending staff to do a report on something that they've already reported to us as unworkable.”

Bradley was absent from Monday's council meeting along with councillors Bev MacDougall and Brian White.