The Township of the North Shore has voted to suspend the pay of Ward 1 Coun. Richard Welburn for 60 days after its integrity commissioner identified several code of conduct breaches related to “aggressive and bullying” communications with staff over the past year.
On Wednesday, council heard that an investigation into one complaint produced numerous emails where the elected member of council for Algoma Mills showed “a pattern of the member involving himself in operational matters, especially where he believes he has some personal expertise to lend to the task.”
“The overall tone of the emails is easily read as the member trying to provoke a reaction from staff and, while using no offensive language, the emails are sarcastic and appear intentionally provocative,” integrity commissioner Tony Fleming wrote in one of the reports presented to council.
Investigations into two other complaints, meanwhile, displayed a common theme of Welburn communicating with staff in an “aggressive, sarcastic and unprofessional manner,” through a series of emails, some of which deemed by Fleming to be “passive aggressive” in nature.
“The member makes repeated requests for information, and when the response is not what he wants, his reaction is to call into question the professionalism of staff and their motivations,” Fleming wrote.
The integrity commissioner found that Welburn called the public works manager “childish and disrespectful” in one instance, and accused him of “lecturing” or “tongue lashing” council during a closed session.
At one point, Welburn quipped to the township clerk that he would fire her and “start over if he had it his way.”
Fleming’s investigation determined that “obvious tension” existed between the Ward 1 councillor and staff, and that Welburn’s response to the integrity commissioner’s investigation “confirms that the member dislikes certain staff.”
On top of the suspension in pay, council approved a recommendation that Welburn's communication with staff will only be through email and directed to the mayor for a period of 12 months.
Welburn balked at the findings of the integrity commissioner during Wednesday's open session of council.
“I understand the tough job and parameters that you have to work with. But sorry, I don’t agree with your findings,” he told Fleming during the council meeting.
“I know that my position on this doesn’t change the penalties or sanctions against me. Your sanctions have little to no impact on the work relationship between me and the staff.”
The Ward 1 councillor then proceeded to apologize to residents for the “vulgar amount of taxpayers’ money (that) has been wasted on these matters,” while suggesting there have been personal and professional attacks against him “both inside and outside of our council chambers.”
“By me allowing it to get personal, I have lost connection with why I’m here — and for that, I apologize to all the residents of the north shore,” Welburn said. “I wish I could tell you that it will come to an end, but I don’t have a crystal ball.
“If you want something to change, first you must want it to change.”
He added that he has tried to reconcile differences with both staff and council by meeting in order to “work this out” — without the involvement of the integrity commissioner — to no avail.
The elected ward representative for Algoma Mills also suggested that the pay he’s being docked be used to obtain professional human resources support for both staff and council.
“I guess the question is, how do we change this if I’m the only one that wants to change the atmosphere inside these walls?” Welburn said.
As previously reported by SooToday, Welburn was slapped with penalties and sanctions by council last year after the integrity commissioner identified eight code of conduct breaches stemming from a closed session of council in February 2024, where Welburn was reportedly "exhibiting an angry and agitated demeanour" while making comments towards staff and council that were "disrespectful and uncivil" in nature.