Whitchurch-Stouffville council votes to dock mayor 30 days pay

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 27, 2017
By Simon Martin

Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Justin Altmann is going to be a little lighter in the wallet. Council voted to implement the integrity commissioner's report to dock Altmann's pay for 30 days and issue a public apology in relation to the creation of a mind map on his bathroom wall.

Integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig found Altmann's actions amounted to workplace harassment in a report released Sept. 22.

"The respondent's (Altmann) conduct in developing the wall created and contributed to an intimidating work environment for the complainant and other employees," her report said.

Craig found that Altmann violated three sections of the town's code of conduct, relating to harassment, discreditable conduct and conduct respecting staff.

After Craig considered Altmann's reasons for creating his mind map wall, she concluded that it was an error in judgment and not a willful desire to cause harm or breach the code.

"I believe the mayor needs to take responsibility (for the wall)," Ward 5 Councillor Iain Lovatt said.

"This has been a very tumultuous period of time," Ward 6 Councillor Rob Hargrave said.

Ward 3 Councillor Hugo Kroon said council needed to stand and protect staff.

Council went into closed session for an hour before announcing their decision.

Earlier in the meeting, Altmann's lawyer presented a report in response to the integrity commissioner report that was released a little more than an hour before the meeting Tuesday.

It is our opinion that the process of the investigation conducted by the integrity commissioner and its findings disclose a lack of fairness and bias that should be reviewed by a neutral third party," Hermie Abraham said.

Abraham also said they weren't given ample time by Craig to respond to some of the allegations in the report. Craig disputed this complaint and said Altmann's camp was given more than enough time.

According to the integrity commissioner report, Altmann is alleged to have said he wanted an employee's "head on a platter." It was after this interaction in February that several employees saw the wall.

Altmann also disputes this, according to the addendum submitted by his legal representation in response to the integrity commissioner.

The mayor claims he said he wanted to get inside the employees head to find out why they terminated another staff member.

A complaint filed on March 14 to the Office of the Integrity Commissioner accused Altmann of harassment and discreditable conduct. The complainant said they had been approached by co-workers who had stumbled upon something "very evil" in the mayor's bathroom.

During the investigation, Craig heard from those she interviewed that Altmann was "going off all the time," "has fits of anger," "rants and raves" and "always takes things personally."

Altmann is alleged to have said signs identifying the location of the mayor's office were a safety issue for the mayor and his staff; when staff refused to remove the signs, Altmann is said to have removed the signs himself. He is also alleged to have repeatedly repositioned a video surveillance camera that monitored the entrance door to his office.

According to Altmann's account, he was informed by a credible source that he was being monitored by a security camera, which was trained on the entrance of his office door. To determine whether this allegation was true, Altmann adjusted the camera to point away from his office door. The following day, the mayor discovered that the camera had been re-adjusted to its previous spot.

An investigator hired by the integrity commissioner learned that police were investigating complaints made by town staff about threats to their personal safety. Craig said she believed that some of the allegations involving threats were of a "criminal nature".

As part of her investigation, Craig interviewed 18 people.

In the report, Altmann said it was his belief that some of the complaints were a retaliatory response to some of the necessary changes he made to the town. He said people loyal to former mayor Wayne Emmerson were trying to impede his progress.

According to Altmann's account, the size of the mind map wasn't threatening. Abraham said Altmann invited anybody to have a look after the meeting to see how big the mural was for themselves.

Abraham said Altmann created the wall after approximately 12 anonymous packages were sent to some residents of the town

Altmann believed their purpose was to discredit, threaten and harass the mayor.

He viewed the anonymous packages as a retaliatory response to his refusal to support United Soil Management's bylaw concerning a town landfill site.

Shortly after Altmann refused to support the USM bylaw, Abraham said he was sued by the company and started experiencing resistance, hostility and harassment from some current and former members of council.

Altmann started his own mini-investigation by collecting pertinent documents that showed relationships between seemingly unrelated incidents.

He contacted York Regional Police to see if they would take over the investigation into the anonymous packages and to lay charges where appropriate for the harassment. Altmann then started making the diagram on the wall in his office bathroom.