Investigation of Yellowknife municipal enforcement division gathering steam

The investigator looking into allegations about the City of Yellowknife's municipal enforcement manager will come to the city next month to question people he feels are relevant to the investigation.

The city's senior administrative officer, Sheila Bassi-Kellett, saidthe law firm the city has hired to oversee the investigation has hired Alberta lawyer Dev Chankasingh to investigate allegations of bullying and harassment made in a 2014 complaint by a former municipal enforcement officer.

Chankasingh is also going to investigate allegations made by several former officers that Doug Gillard used security cameras on city facilities to eye women he found attractive.

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"City administration is providing him with the names of all individuals who have contacted the city on matters related to the allegations of workplace misconduct in [the municipal enforcement division]," said Bassi-Kellett.

City council called for the investigation four months ago, after CBC and the Yellowknifer newspaper reportedallegations former officers made against Gillard.

Council later narrowed the investigation to a formal complaint made by one former officer in 2014. The complainant, Shayne Peirson, alleged that Gillard slapped officers in the groin, rubbed spit on their sunglasses and openly made highly inappropriate comments about female city employees.

When council realized that Pierson's complaint did not include allegations that Gillard misused city security cameras, it ordered the investigation go beyond his complaint to look into those allegations as well.

Manager's wife excuses herself for update, manager stays

Bassi-Kellett gave the update during a committee meeting on Monday. Immediately after, Coun. Adrian Bell asked why Gillard's wife, who is the city clerk, excused herself from the meeting for the update, yet Gillard himself did not.

"The optic has been for any discussion whatsoever that she leaves the room so that it's very clear that she's not involved in discussions or deliberations on that in her role as city clerk," said Bassi-Kellett. "He[Gillard]is here as part of the senior management team in an acting capacity and is not privy to any discussions that would go on on this in a private in-camera discussion."

It's unclear whether two of the people overseeing the department at the time of Pierson's complaint, then SAO Dennis Kefalas and public safety director Dennis Marchiori, will be required to answer any questions from the investigator. Both have resigned since the city initiated the investigation.

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The city will not say when the investigation is scheduled to conclude.

'I lost everything'

As the investigation finally begins to gather steam, a former municipal enforcement officer who says he was targeted by Gillard has turned to the public for help.

Doug Norrad worked for the department from 1999 to 2012. He saidhe was close friends with Gillard for years, but fell out of favour.

Norrad's last two years with the department were more than strained. He saidGillard went to the RCMP and complained hewas stealing money from parking meters.

According to court documents in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit Norrad brought against the city after being fired, the RCMP found that not only was there no evidence Norrad hadstolen money, there was no evidence any money had been stolen at all.

Norrad was fired after talking about the investigation and itsoutcome with fellow municipal enforcement officers after being ordered not to do so.

Norrad saidfighting his firing he eventually settled with the citycost him everything. He saidhe applied for numerous jobs in his field with the territorial government, in corrections and as a courthouse sheriff, but was always rejected because the city refused to provide him with a reference.

"I've lost personal items, I've lost my truck, my pension, my RRSPs, my investments," said Norrad. "On December 22nd, 2017 I lost my house to foreclosure, three days before Christmas."

Norrad has started a Go Fund Me campaign. In it, he details his time working at Yellowknife's municipal enforcement division.

He saidhe's skeptical about the investigation, considering the two people overseeing the division at the time have resigned, but he's hopeful. He saidhe has not been contacted by anyone about his time with municipal enforcement.

"I went through a lot. No employee should have had to have done this," he said. "These people need to be held accountable."