Councillor docked pay for 'vociferously' endorsing Hamilton police budget as son is staff sergeant: report
Ward 7 Coun. Esther Pauls acknowledges she was in the wrong and won't vote on the police budget Wednesday
Ward 7 Hamilton Coun. Esther Pauls will not vote on the police budget after the city's integrity commissioner reprimanded her for not recusing herself from past votes.
Pauls's son, John, is a staff sergeant with the Hamilton Police Service (HPS), whose salary is included in the police budget. Ontario's 2022 public sector salary disclosure states HPS Staff Sgt. John Pauls made $198,513.71 in 2022.
Coun. Pauls is a member of the police services board.
The integrity commissoner's report released last week found Pauls had debated "with vigour" and "vociferously" endorsed and voted for the police budget at the board meeting in late 2022.
In a statement released before council met to vote on the overall budget Wednesday, Pauls acknowledged she was "unknowingly and unintentionally" in a conflict of interest.
The integrity commissioner report noted staff told Pauls on three separate occasions she had a conflict of interest and needed to refrain from participating in the debate and vote. It found she can continue to serve on the board, but must be especially vigilant on declaring conflicts.
Councillor says she should've followed commissioner's advice
But Pauls said she decided to follow "unsolicited reassurances" from "well-intentioned individuals" that she could vote because her son's salary had already been set in a collective bargaining agreement.
"I now realize I should have remained within the iron-clad circle of advice provided by the integrity commissioner, as it was a disqualifying interest," she said.
"I now understand that changes to the overall Hamilton Police Service budget could – regardless of perceived probability – technically have an impact on my son's salary."
If the police budget was cut by 50 per cent, for example, her son's salary would be directly impacted, Pauls said.
Pauls was docked pay for 15 consecutive days, the report said.
At the council meeting Wednesday, Pauls disqualified herself from voting on both the police and paramedic budget, as her daughter-in-law is a paramedic.
Report provides 'clarity and closure'
Other councillors have faced similar repercussions for improper conduct as determined by the integrity commissioner.
For example, former councillor Terry Whitehead's pay was withheld for 45 consecutive days in 2022 after it was found he bullied staff, confirmed city spokesperson Jen Recine. Because the number of days includes weekends and holidays, he was docked equivalent to 33 working days worth of pay.
Coun. Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2) filed the complaint against Pauls with the integrity commissioner.
He tweeted the report provided "clarity and closure," but also questioned if councillors who have close relatives who work for HPS should serve on the board at all.
This is an important moment of clarity and closure. For decades, it was presumed that the opposite was true because members of the police board including Morelli, Di Ianni, Eisenberger, and Collins openly voted on the budget despite having immediate family on the force.
—@CameronKroetsch"What hurt me the most was that another councillor filed the complaint," Pauls said to Kroetsch on Wednesday.
"I understand Cameron that you wanted to know. We started on the wrong foot. I hope we can start on the right foot."
Coun. John-Paul Danko (Ward 8) raised concerns that the motivation of the complaint was designed to undermine Paul's role on the police service board.
Integrity commissioner Janice Atwood-Petkovski said her office looked past any motives and instead focused on the specific issue.
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