[All] Fw: Follow up on municipal complaint process in Waterloo Region

Sat Mar 5 13:03:00 EST 2011

Hi folks

Just shared this with the Ministry of Municipal Affiars and Housing.

In a nutshelll: The Region of Waterloo has no integrity commissioner or code of conduct for elected officials in place. If one has a complaint about the conduct of an elected official it is currently up to the chair (AN ELECTED OFFICIAL) to decide if concerns have merit.

I'm raising concerns with Tim Ryall at the MOE London office asking how to initiate legislation to make it manditory for all municipalities and regions to have an  integrity commissioners and code of conduct for elected officials. 

Details below. 

Lulu

--- On Sat, 3/5/11, Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com> wrote:

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Subject: Follow up on municipal complaint process in Waterloo Region
To: tim.ryall at ontario.ca
Date: Saturday, March 5, 2011, 12:59 PM

Hi Mr. Ryall

Previously I filed a formal complaint to the City of Kitchener's Integrity Commissioner in regards to statements made by Waterloo Mayor Carl Zehr the evening the Region of Waterloo approved of the vote results regarding the plebiscite on the fluoride issue in Waterloo. 

At first I was directed to file a complaint to Kitchener's Integrity commissioner because at the time, Mayor Zehr was "representing the city" in Regional council. I followed the process and received the response that it was a matter for the Region, not the city. 

I asked for the contact info for the Regional Integrity Commissioner and they sent the following email:

From: Regional Clerk <RegionalClerk at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Subject: RE: Inquiry, Regional Integrity Commissioner
To: "'Louisette Lanteigne'" <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Cc:
 "Kris Fletcher" <KFletcher at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Date: Wednesday, January 5, 2011, 1:35 PM

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Hello Ms. Lanteigne, 

I have had a chance to discuss this situation with the Regional
Clerk, and am able to respond to your query. 

To clearly answer your initial question, the Region of Waterloo
does not have an integrity commissioner, nor a code of conduct for councilors. 

What the Region of Waterloo does have is an accountability and
transparency policy, which applies to all staff and councilors.  The policy is
attached, for your convenience. With regard to your desire to file a formal
complaint, page 4 of the policy describes that the Regional Clerk is
responsible for receiving concerns or complaints related to this policy, and
that complaints involving Council will have the Regional Clerk notifying the
Regional Chair.  It is important to note that any complaint filed would have to
fall within the policy statement. 

To make a formal complaint, please submit your complaint in
writing to the Regional Clerk.  This can be done through this email address regionalclerk at regionofwaterloo.ca
or at the address below: 

Council and Administrative Services 

150 Frederick Street, 2nd Floor 

Kitchener, ON 

N2G 4J3 

If you wish to pursue this complaint outside of this policy, you
will need to consult your own solicitor/legal counsel. 

Regards, 

Mike Grivicic 

Council/Committee Support Specialist 

Regional Municipality of Waterloo 

519-575-4493
I was directed to file the complaint with the Regional Clerk which I did. In response, I now have the attached letter that shows how the Region handled this. 

Essentially, at this time, if the public has concerns about the conduct of elected officials, it is up to the CHAIR to decide if the matter is a violation of procedural By-law. This to me is a blatant conflict of interest seeing that the chair himself is an elected official. My concerns included a complaint about Regional Chair Seiling stating that he should have restored decorum the evening when Carl Zehr made harsh alligations against the "anti fluoride" group based on hearsay.

If you view the correspondence you will note the following passage that states:

"Your request for such a review does not fit
 within our policy, however we are responding regardless." 

That implies that there currently is no system in place for the public to request the assessment of an elected official's conduct. 

The letter also states that section 29 of the By-law entitled "Conduct of Members in Council" is attached for your review, however it was not. All I received was the single page letter dated March 1st 2011 as seen in the attachment. 

The letter of response states: "I believe you are aware that during the debate the Council Chambers recording system was not working, and therefore there is no actual recording on these events."  

Speaking truthfully, I had no idea the city's recording system was not working until this letter but it is disturbing to know the result of this groundbreaking plebicide was not recorded. One would think that extra measures
 would be in place to assure proper record of this historical decision. 

I witnessed staff from CKCO filming at the time of the Regional plebicite result discussions and I spoke with Michael Melling at CKCO TV in an attempt to secure their video of the evenings outcome. He stated to me by phone, "They would require a court order to release it." That is the standard protocol for their agency. 

The Region of Waterloo must secure an Integrity Commissioner and establish a Code of Conduct for council members but honestly, in my view, this should be mandatory for all municipal and regional levels of governance. Could you please direct me on how I can initiate this policy to be adopted at the provincial level so all communities will have a reasonable system of accountability in place. 

Thank you kindly for your time.

Louisette Lanteigne
700 Star Flower Ave.
Waterloo Ontario
N2V
 2L2
519-885-7619

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