This councillor sought more transparency. His words were disrespectful, says integrity watchdog

During a public council meeting in thespring, a city councillor in Pembroke, Ont., was "passionate" in his demandfor more transparency in city procedures and bylaws.

The city's integrity commissioner says those comments were "disrespectful" to city staff and in his opinion, the councillor deservesa 15-day suspension of his pay in whatwould be the commissioner's first ever breach of conduct report presented before a Pembroke council.

"I felt it was a violation of my freedoms the right to freedom of opinion and expression," Coun. Troy Purcell told CBC News one day after Tuesday's council meeting when integrity commissioner Tony Fleming presented his findings.

According to Fleming's report, he received multiple complaints alleging Purcell made "comments about staff that were derogatory" at an April council meetingand thus "negatively affected staff's well-being and created low morale."

The identitiesof the complainants were not disclosed.

Fleming said Purcell breached a sectionof the city code requiring councillors to "treat members of the public, staff and each other in a respectful manner," but said his comments did not constitute "abuse, bullying, harassment or intimidation."

"Please hear me clearly. My intent was not to disrespect staff but to spur change," Purcell said Tuesday.

The April 18 meeting at the centre of the complaints was a prelude tosweeping changes in city government.

"I'm proud to be the driver of changes thus far," Purcell added.

As a result of Purcell's motions since April, council adopted several changes to outdated bylaws and made significant progress toward procedural accountability and transparency.

Pembroke, as one example,now has a surplus land bylawfollowing months of controversy around Mayor Ron Gervais's offer to buy city-owned land near his home for $1,000.

Council also introduced a five-year limit to city procurement contractsafterCBC'sreports of Gervais's ties to citysolicitorRobert Sheppard and the law firm they both work at: Sheppard & Gervais.

During that meeting in April,council also discussed reconsidering the city's 21-year-old contract with Sheppard.

"I have significant concerns regarding the lack of transparencyand accountability of this council," said Purcell at the April meeting.

The following few quotes were some of the statements scrutinized by Fleming, which were reported to have breached the code of conduct.

WATCH | All of the comments made by Purcell that were deemed 'inappropriate':

These comments by a city councillor in Pembroke were deemed disrespectful by the citys integrity commissioner

10 months ago

Duration 1:58

Comments made by Pembroke, Ont. city councillor Troy Purcell in a public council meeting last spring were deemed inappropriate by the citys integrity commissioner, who said Purcell deserves a 15-day suspension of his pay.

"As an example, this agenda meeting was not even posted on the City of Pembroke's website until mere hours prior to the meeting, impeding concerned citizens' knowledge of what we'll discuss tonight and potentially hindering their attendance at today's meeting," Purcell said.

"You'll probably hear from the executive committee that this was done in oversight or error, but this further demonstrates complacency in promoting an open and transparent local government."

Other quotes include Purcell's frustrations over accessing information from city administration like getting copies of approved bylaws, reports, studies and not getting timely responses to questions and requests for call-backs, "demonstrating to me the utter lack of leadership from the executive committee."

Purcell is also quoted giving a list of excuses he's allegedly heard from city staff.

Fleming's report states "detailing such criticisms and concerns in a public forum is disrespectful." He also called those comments "inappropriate."

"Even if all of the Member's comments were factual, no Member of Council should bring the professionalism or competency of staff into question at an open meeting," the report reads.

"I stand behind the comments I made," said Purcell to council on Tuesday.

Councillorssplit on report

Fleming recommended Purcell's pay be suspended for 15 days and council require him to read an apologyat an open meeting within 30 days of its decision.

What I take away from this report is that we should all be talking and walking on eggshells.- Coun. Ian Kuehl

Councillorswere divided on Fleming's report, with halfdisagreeing with the findings but they agreed Purcell's comments were "harsh" and "passionate."

Purcell said he was "perplexed" as to why tax dollars were spent on a formal investigation rather than usingan informal complaints process.

• Watch the integrity commissioner's presentation and full discussion here

"I'm mystified how we [got] here," saidCoun. Ian Kuehl, who defended Purcell and pointed outFleming's failure to define "disrespectful" in his report.

Kuehlquestioned why the report never mentioned freedom of speech in relation to preserving democracy. He also cited integrity commissioner reports from other cities and even Supreme Court case studies to defend his colleague.

"Inmy opinion, a justice of the peace trying a traffic ticket would have to give better reasons than the reasons we find in this report," Kuehl said. "What I take away from this report is that we should all be talking and walking on eggshells."

Coun. Ed Jacyno disagreed, saying councillors should show "decency" when debating matters.

"I think he did hurt some people's feelings," Jacyno said. "I think we have to gauge ourselves as to what we're doing right or wrong."

'Agree to disagree'

After several failed motions on what sanctions, if any, to issue to Purcell, Mayor Gervais, Jacyno and Coun. Patricia Lafrenierevoted in favour of compelling Purcell to issue a public letter while not sanctioning him financially.

Councillors Kuehl, Brian Abdallah and Andrew Plummer consistently voted against any sanctions.

In the end, councillors decided to "agree to disagree" and move on from the integrity commissioner's report without taking action.

• Read the full report here

Fleming declined to comment for this story.

CBC News asked the city's chief administrative officer David Unrau for an interview. He directed CBC to Gervais, whodid not respond to CBC's request.