Lakeshore Advance, 2013-05-01, Page 32 Lakeshore Advance • Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Integrity Commission watchdog for code of conduct complalnts
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investigate, completely inde-
pendent from our staff, or from
our council members," said the
mayor.
Ontario's Municipal Act allows
for the appointing of an independ-
ent integrity commissioner when
a municipality receives complaints
related to its code of conduct for
members of council.
Levine has also served as integ-
rity commissioner for other
Ontario ►municipalities and is a
former general counsel of the
Office of the Ombudsman in Brit-
ish Columbia. Ile has also lectured
on the law and written on govern-
ment and ethics.
Lambton Shores council has
been involved in several recent
controversies, including the dis-
missal last fall of its former chief
administrative officer, John Byrne,
and the way a vacancy on council
was filled in late 2012.
"There have been issues from
the public, whether that was done
properly," Weber said.
Saying he's had enough of the
accusations, Lambton Shore
Council Doug Bonesteel called for
the municipality to hire
Greg Levine has been appointed for Lambton Shores
an Integrity Commissioner to
investigate whether there was a
leak from an in- camera meeting
about the suspension and even-
tual dismissal of the (:AO. Several
sources have said news of Byrne's
pending firing was known by com-
munity members before the meet-
ing took place but council has yet
to deal with the matter puhlically
under its Code of Conduct
rules. But Bonesteel says it is time
to put the matter to rest by hiring
an Integrity Commissioner to
investigate. "This council has to
have the public's confidence in it
restored...the press doesn't seem
to let up on this," he said as he
made a motion to hire a commis-
sioner earlier this year.
"We need to start an investiga-
tion to see if these allegations have
any grounds." Bonesteel said it
was curious that if people had
complaints -why didn't they deal
with the complaint
The main objective
here is to do
what's right for
Lambton Shores."
process associated with the code
of conduct. Council passed the
code last spring which allowed for
people to issue complaints about
council's conduct but didn't set
out it guideline of how to do it.
Earlier this spring Council
decided the commissioner should
be available for advice, education,
investigation and adjudication any
complaints.
But, Weber repeated that he and
members of council don't know if
those two issues are connected
with the formal complaints Levine
will be investigating.
"It's disappointing that we have
to have this process," Weber said.
"i've been on council for '24
years and this is the first time
we've talked about integrity
commissioners."
Weber said changes in recent
years have been felt in communi-
ties all across Ontario.
"'Ihe public is demanding more
accountability, and questioning
everything that we do in local
politics.'
Ile said 1.ambton Shores' code
of conduct is still relatively new
and he didn't know, at this point,
how the work of the integrity com-
missioner will proceed, or how
much time it will take.
"We will he seeing how we pro-
ceed with that, get some informa-
tion and what steps we're going
through to get hits on hoard,"
Weber said.
"We'll just go through the proc
ess and accept whatever happens
at the end."
Ile added, "The main objective
here is to do what's right for Lamb -
ton Shores."
in the meantime, council has set
out some rules to govern the proc-
ess. Anyone with a complaint must
fill out an affidavit form which will
be placed in a sealed envelope
and given to the commissiont'r.
Each complaint will be subject to
a $100 fee to discourage "frivolous
complaints."
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