Court battle between former Stouffville mayor Altmann, town set to rev up

Lawsuit was an attempt to undermine re-election campaign: Altmann

Yorkregion.com
May 2, 2019
Simon Martin

It’s been half a year since former mayor Justin Altmann finished third in the Whitchurch-Stouffville municipal election last October. While much has changed since Oct. 22, there is still a court case ongoing between the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville and Altmann that will be heard in the coming months.

The town filed a lawsuit against its then mayor in June of last year alleging Altmann gave out confidential information. Altmann disclosed, discussed and distributed multiple copies of a 167-page binder, which included the allegedly confidential information, to unidentified members of the public, on Aug. 26, 2017, according to the town.

The information in question deals with town employees and matters dealt with exclusively during in camera sessions of council, such as overtime claims, and the employment history of 24 current and former employees, the documents allege.

Altmann’s statement of defence paints a much different picture of the matter stating that the information disclosed in the binder was not confidential information but information that had otherwise made its way to the public domain.

Altmann’s defence also alleges the town CAO knew of the existence of the binder in 2017 and did nothing until Altmann was in the midst of a re-election campaign.

According to Altmann’s statement of defence the lawsuit brought by the town was an attempt by the Town CAO Roman Martiuk to undermine the re-election campaign of Altmann.

The town learned about the binder's disclosure June 6 of last year and promptly asked Altmann to return the confidential information and identify the individuals who may also be in custody of it.

The town claims Altmann breached his duties of loyalty, fidelity and good faith owed to the town, his fiduciary duty owed to the town and his duty to keep all confidential information belonging to the town in strict confidence.

The town is seeking punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages as a result of “Altmann’s blatant breaches of duties owed to the town and wilful deliberate misuse of confidential information belonging to the town.”

The next court date for the matter is scheduled for May 6.
Altmann’s four-year term as mayor from 2014 to 2018 was marred by high-profile staff departures, multiple integrity commissioner investigations and legal battles between Altmann and the town.

In 2015, past chief administrative officer (CAO) Andrew McNeely and assistant Concetta Connolly were both put on administrative leave by the town and eventually resigned. There was no discussion about the reasons for the resignations at the time in council.

The CAO who followed McNeely, Marc Pourvahidi wasn’t long for the job either. The town sacked Pourvahidi in November of 2016 after he was put on leave earlier in the year. Pourvahidi had been on administrative leave since April 2016 due to a “personnel matter”, as stated by a town press release. The duration of his leave was written as “unknown”, effectively leaving the town without an official CAO for seven months. The town did not release further details on the decision.

In 2017, integrity Commissioner Suzanne Craig investigated a “CSI-style” photo wall in Altmann’s office washroom that included pictures of staff, former politicians and members of the public, linked together with black lines and graphics.

At the time, council docked Altmann one month’s pay and asked that he apologize to staff. But the mayor adamantly refused to do so, citing errors in Craig’s report.

In March of 2018, town council voted 5-1 to endorse most of the integrity commissioner’s recommendations from an investigation that found Altmann shared confidential information during an interview and another probe into his failure to apologize for the wall.

The penalties imposed included six months of docked pay as well as the mayor being banned from the municipal office and talking to town staff.

A judge later found that the town didn’t have the authority to ban Altmann from talking to town staff and from entering municipal facilities among other things after Altmann had appealed the decision in June.