Former Ottawa police exec sues for $2.7M, and airs some dirty laundry

A former Ottawa police civilian executive is suing his former employer for upwards of $2.7 million, claiming he was unfairly dismissed last year after an anonymous email alleged he wasn't paying taxes on a take-home vehicle.

In the lawsuit, former chief administrative officer Jeff Letourneaualleges he was offered a vehicle at the start of a new job at the force, and used ittransparentlyduring a latercontract dispute aboutthe vehicle.

The documentcasts a shadowon the inner workings of the police force,mentioning a now-retired inspector's alleged medical leave and harassment complaint following a clash with thenchief of police Peter Sloly(whoresigned last month amid accusations of bullying and volatile behaviour).

And Letourneausuggests his dismissal was at least partiallymotivatedby the friendship betweenthen police board chair Coun. Diane Deans and a now-retired police inspector, whomLetourneauhad sour dealings with. He also insinuatesthatinspector could have beenthe source of the anonymous email that led to his termination.

The suit comes on the heels of atumultuousstart to the yearfor the Ottawa Police Services Board. In the past two monthsa deputy chief resignedwhilesuspended onallegations of sexual assault;Sloly resigned from the force over thehandling of a weeks-long protestblocking downtown streets in the shadow of Parliament Hill;Deans was ousted as chair of theboardin the middleof the internationally watched crisis for effortsto replace Sloly;and most of the board's membersresigned in protest or amid scandal.

Police union calls for investigation

Letourneauwas terminated from his positionaftera unanimous decision by the police board in April 2021, which followed the anonymous emailsent to Ottawa's mayor and city councillors a fewweeks earlier.

The email raisedquestions about taxesLetourneauhad paid in recent years compared toother seniorOttawa police members with take-homevehicles.

Days after the anonymous email, Ottawa police union president Matt Skof wrote aletter to the police board chair, mayor and police chief, saying he'd been made aware of the anonymous complaint, looked into its claims, and wanted a formalinvestigation to be done.

Using informationfromOntario's Sunshine List, Skof noted Letourneau earned more than $242,000 as the chief administrative officer with a servicevehicle in 2020,andreported only $1,060 in taxable benefits. But his predecessor,who earned roughlythe same and also used a service vehicle,reported more than$12,000 in taxable benefits in 2018.

Take-home vehicle at issuein contract dispute, claim alleges

In Letourneau'sstatement of claim against the police board, filed in Ontario Superior Court on Feb. 23, healleges he was offered a new service vehicle when he was appointed acting director general in March 2019under former chief Charles Bordeleau. He declined the offer to save the force some money, the claim states, and instead suggested takingover his predecessor's service vehicle when she retired,which he did.

That summer,Letourneauwas hired as chief administrative officerthe same job as director general but with a new title and was presented a contract for a fixed five-year term. Instead of a take-homevehicle, benefits in the contract included$575 a monthfor expenses incurredusing apersonal vehicle for work.

Letourneaudisagreed with theallowanceand wanted to continue using his predecessor'stake-home vehicle, but the claim stateshe signed the contractanyway to meet the board's timeline for announcing his hire.

The claim alleges Letourneau "expressed his expectation that the service vehicle issue would be subject to further negotiations."

Taxable benefitdeferred, claim alleges

Discussions in the fall with the police board provided no resolution, however, and in December he wrote to thenpolice chief Slolywho said he'd bring up the matter with the board, according to the claim.

That same month, the city's payroll manager contacted Letourneauabout his taxable benefits. Letourneauadvised that hiscontract wasstill under review, and the claim allegesthe manager proposed to defer the taxable vehicle benefitto the following year, pending a resolution.

In January 2020, chief Slolytold Letourneau to put off discussing the vehicle issue due toworkload, the claim states. Letourneau planned to bring it up in his 2020 performance review, according to the claim, but no such review occurred prior to his termination in April 2021.

Meanwhile, the board wasn't paying Letourneau's contractedsalary ormonthly vehicle allowance he was continuing to openly use his predecessor's vehicle and he didn't receive an executed contract from the board, according to the claim.

Termination

In early April 2021, then board chairDeans sentLetourneau the anonymous email questioning the taxable benefits on his take-home vehicle. Letourneau offered to meet with Deans, according to the claim, but Deans declined, and askedinstead that he stop using the vehicle and respond to the allegationsin writing.

In his replydays later, Letourneauconfirmed he'd been using the vehicle during the contractdispute and he'dreturned itthe day Deans wrote to him, according to the claim.

"Mr. Letourneau explained that his use of the service vehicle had been open, transparent, and consistent with his understanding that there were unresolved issues relating to the terms and conditions of his employment," the claim states.

Later that month, Deans and the city's human resources director calledto sayhe'd been terminated for unauthorized use of a service vehicle and for failing to disclose a taxable benefit on thatvehicle.

The statement of claim alleges no investigation had been done,Letourneau hadn'tbeen formally or informally disciplined, and that hehadn't receiveda verbal or written warning prior to his termination.

Bad blood

The claim also alleges the board dismissedLetourneau"at least in part, in retaliation" following a dispute with then Ottawa police Insp. Pat Flanagan (whoretired in May 2021 and is a member of a prominent policing family in the city).

After an alleged "disagreement" between Flanagan and then chief Slolyin a meeting sometime around October 2020 whichresulted in Flanagan taking medical leave and filing a harassment complaint against Sloly, according to the claim Sloly asked Letourneau to manageFlanagan, the claim states.

Letourneaurepeatedly tried reachingout to see thatFlanagan's own service vehicle was returned to the force, and toobtain documents for the medical leave, according to the claim.

Deans then called Letourneau around December 2020 to sayFlanagan had agreed to retire in January 2021 if Sloly agreed to certain terms, which were not specifiedin the statement of claim. Letourneaureplied that some of theterms would conflict with the collective agreement, andthe police union would have to agree to them.

The claim states Deans asked Letourneau to handle itand no longer involve her.

Meanwhile, efforts to obtain Flanagan's take-home vehicle continued, and the claim alleges thesituationcame to a head around February 2021, when "Flanagan threatenedto 'take [Mr. Letourneau]down'"in a conversation with Supt. Joan McKenna.

Flanagan "further advised that he 'knew about [Letourneau's]vehicle issue and would take it to the Board unless [Mr. Letourneau] backed off,'" the claim alleges.

The next month, theanonymous email about Letourneau'stake-home vehicle and taxable benefits was sent to the mayor and city council, requesting an investigation.

None of theallegations in Letourneau's claim has been tested in court.

Retired inspector denies accusations

In text messages to CBC News, Flanagan denied the claim's allegation that he threatened Letourneau and theinsinuation that he wrote an email about him.

"I will state that at no point did I ever threaten to 'take down' Jeff Letourneau. Nor did I ever provide the office of the mayor with any correspondence email or otherwise, on any subject matter related to Jeff Letourneau," the texts read.

"He's barking up the wrong tree!"

Flanagan declined to clarify matters further.

Reached by phone, one of Letourneau's lawyers, Janice Payne,said she and her client haveno other commentto make.

Deans also declined to comment, her office wrote in an email.

Police board chair Eli El-Chantirywrote in an email that hecan't comment on ongoing litigation.

Lawyers for the Ottawa Police Services Board have filed a notice of intent to defend.