Norfolk council 'willing to overlook' ethical standards in its 1st year: report

Norfolk County's integrity commissioner has lambasted council for being "willing to overlook" ethical standards during its first year in office, citing staff departures that CBC News has learned have contributed to $672,940.43 in severance payouts.

The mayor, meanwhile, calls the report "personal conjecture."

John Mascarin of Aird & Berlis LLP said in a new report that "confrontation came early and often" for the mostly rookie council. He also said the "massive turnover" in senior staff has resulted in "a loss of institutional knowledge and administrative skill [that] cannot be understated."

"Good governance is not simply about maintaining tax rates," Mascarin wrote in the report, which council will discuss at a meeting Tuesday. "It is not only about fiscal responsibility. It is not only about providing services. Good governance is about 'working together' as a team to serve the public interest. Isn't that part of the county's slogan?

"Good governance also entails adherence to and respect for established ethical codes and standards — something this council was willing to overlook during its first term of office."

Mayor Kristal Chopp says she's "baffled" by the report, which was done at "an hourly rate of $800, and a time when we just had to lay off 145 staff." She also doesn't agree with his assessment of council's ethics.

"I am proud of this council," she said in an email Saturday.

"They have had to make some really hard decisions in order to put a county that was completely mismanaged and left in a perilous financial position back on track, regardless of whether or not those decisions were popular or get them elected again."

Mascarin first clashed with the nine-member council — of which all but two were new — in early 2019. Chopp, unhappy with a staff planning report about backyard chickens, ripped up the report during the meeting and said it would be "a long four years if the wishes of council are not respected."

Mascarin ordered Chopp to apologize, which she did on Facebook "seven minutes before midnight" on the deadline day, Mascarin said in the new report. Council voted to cover Chopp's fine of about $3,000.

Council also voted to change its integrity commissioner rules so Mascarin couldn't impose penalties, and so he would have to tell them the names of complainants. Mascarin's new report says they should reconsider both of those points. 

Chopp disagrees with that assessment too.

"Certainly there needs to be a process for checking elected officials," she said, "but when the system is being exploited for political agendas, the first check needs to be with council."

Mascarin's report mentions numerous staff departures last year. That included three CAOs, although two were interim. Council hired Jason Burgess, a Niagara-based consultant, to the role earlier this year. Turnover also happened in the roles of fire chief, county solicitor, and heads of finance, public works, human resources and planning, among others.

A Freedom of Information Act request shows Norfolk spent $672,940.43 on staff severances from January 2019 to February 2020.

Mascarin said he is "wary of efforts to weaponize" the authority of his office.

"Having said that," he concluded, "we are mindful that the public has a right to make inquiries and to file requests for investigation if they believe that ethical breaches have occurred, which no amount of social media noise and spin can eradicate.

"Council should not be permitted to operate from the basis of 'what need we fear who knows it when none can call our power to account.'"

The agenda Tuesday will also include a March letter from the Ontario Ombudsman, which says the office is investigating whether council held improper closed-door discussions on Jan. 28. 

That's the day council, faced with deep budget cuts, voted to close two museums, offer its art gallery and Lynnwood national heritage site to a volunteer board, close the Simcoe Seniors Centre and relocate its members to the nearby recreation centre. It also voted to close at least one arena and cut $210,000 from the tourism and economic development budget.

Chopp said council followed staff advice that day.

"Council followed the direction and recommendations of our seasoned clerk as to which items discussed during last year's budget deliberations should be held in open and closed session."