A small township in the Algoma District has gone thousands of dollars over the allotted budget for its integrity commissioner following a series of complaints surrounding the conduct of its council members.
According to a recent variance report from the Township of the North Shore, a total of $39,450 has been spent on the township’s integrity commissioner — and counting — against the $10,000 that’s been budgeted for the entire year.
Township mayor Tony Moor says the increase in complaints to the integrity commissioner will mean “re-evaluating budget lines,” due to “the way some council members are, I suppose, behaving in council chambers.”
“Any increase in expenses will eventually trickle down to the ratepayer, but we certainly have sufficient funds to cover this within our budget,” Moor told SooToday on Tuesday.
Moor believes the root of the problem is a lack of “set parameters with respect to the integrity commissioner.”
“I think the concept is a good concept — it’s a valid concept, but there needs to be uniformity, there needs to be training with respect to what is acceptable and what’s not acceptable,” he said. “You can have somebody put in a vexatious complaint, and the complaint is investigated, nothing comes of it.
“The complaint is dismissed, but the fact that it was investigated in the first place — and even if they came to dismissal without further investigation — it’s still an expense.”
As previously reported by SooToday, integrity commissioner Tony Fleming slapped a pair of Township of the North Shore councillors with penalties and sanctions after finding that both Ward 1 Coun. Richard Welburn (Algoma Mills) and Ward 3 Coun. Tracey Simon (Serpent River) engaged in inappropriate behaviour during incidents that took place earlier this year.
Welburn in particular had a laundry list of breaches — eight in all — that were identified as a result of Fleming's investigation into several complaints.
A number of concerned residents have reached out to SooToday since then, claiming that the bad behaviour at council meetings has only been getting worse. Some of the township residents pointed to a Nov. 19 special meeting of council in which members of council engaged in a couple of heated discussions that erupted into shouting matches in council chambers.
“You do this all the time,” Welburn said angrily to Simon at one point during the meeting. “How come every time we mention your husband, you get all frustrated?”
“Stop. We’re not going there, OK?” said Moor, in an attempt to diffuse an escalating situation.
“It has to do with your conduct, councillor!” Simon shouted at Welburn.
“No, it doesn’t! Your conduct! I wasn’t done finished talking, and you interrupted me — and you do that, you do that all the time!” Welburn shouted back.
The meeting eventually came to an end, but not before a resident in attendance alleged that the mayor is “over his head and unable to control or lead” both council and staff. “We as taxpayers have lost faith in this government,” the resident said.
The same member of the public also called for the mayor and a pair of council members to resign for allegedly meeting in council chambers privately with staff on the evening of Nov. 6 — after a regularly scheduled council meeting had already been abruptly cancelled by Moor. At the time, the mayor said that he had cancelled the Nov. 6 meeting according to procedural bylaw, and that there were “some personal situations involved.”
At the Nov. 27 council meeting, a new resident of Algoma Mills took issue with Wellburn's behaviour on Nov. 19 while serving as the ward councillor for her area.
“Last week seemed to be a bullying and harassment parade,” the woman told council. “My ward representative seemed to be very verbally abusive to staff and council members. I was a little bit concerned — and frankly, if the person was here, I was worried about personal safety.”
Moor told SooToday the behaviour displayed by council during the Nov. 19 meeting was an “unfortunate thing,” and that the Township of the North Shore is “looking for more guidance with respect to behaviours” from the province.
“People are going to disagree with one another. But they need to do it in a civil and respectful fashion, period,” the mayor said.
In September, council at the Township of the North Shore adopted a resolution in support of Bill 5 (Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act, 2022) and Bill 207 (Municipal Accountability and Integrity Act, 2024), which contain provincial legislative amendments aimed towards improving municipal codes of conduct and enforcement.
Bill 5 in particular would permit municipalities to direct the integrity commissioner to apply to the court in order to vacate a council member’s seat for failure to comply with the municipality’s workplace violence and harassment policies, and restrict officials whose seat has been vacated from seeking immediate re-election.
Both bills have since been defeated in Queen’s Park. But Moor believes legislative changes have to be made at the provincial level to deal with misconduct on council, including mandated mediation and sensitivity training, in order to foster growth.
“Ultimately, we’re trying to change the behaviour of individuals on council,” he said.
Concerned residents have told SooToday that the public trust in leadership has been substantially eroded as result of ongoing behaviour during council meetings.
“I think there are individuals that do feel that way,” replied Moor.
“They have, let’s say, an interest that they are going by. But I think that council as a whole continues to effectively deal with the issues that affect the municipality as a whole with respect to all of what we’re required to do. There are vested interests out there, and you see that in every municipality.”
The integrity commissioner for the Township of the North Shore is expected to provide a report to council later this month.