Some Cochrane residents are concerned about their mayor's behaviour towards staff, council

Cochrane's town council chambers filled up quickly on Tuesday night, with some of the audience overflowing into an adjacent parking lot to watch a live stream of the meeting. 

They came to hear the councillors debate the contents of reports by the town's integrity commissioner, who ruled last week that mayor Peter Politis harassed and bullied two of the town's managers. 

"It's important that people in power recognize it's a sacred responsibility," said resident Melissa Girovec. "It's unacceptable for someone in the position of mayor to be acting this way."

Denise Genier, another Cochrane resident, watched the entire four-hour long meeting in the parking lot of town council at subzero temperatures. 

She said it was important for her to be there to ensure that the reports were not swept under the rug.

"Oftentimes with this particular mayor there's no accountability. The only way for the victims to get a voice is for us to be here and be vocal about it," she said. 

The reports, filed late last week, found that Politis conflated his role with that of a town manager and regularly involved himself in day to day operations. 

The reports also noted that Politis regularly sent emails that conveyed disappointment, judgment and veiled threats to staff, all of which amounted to a pattern of harassment. 

The two managers who initially filed the complaints are not currently working for the town of Cochrane, with one of them being on medical leave and the other having since resigned.

Throughout Tuesday's meeting, however, two members of council told Politis they have also had very negative experiences with his communication and leadership style.

"I myself feel like I have been the victim of harassment by yourself," councillor Sylvie Charron-Lemieux told Politis. 

Councilor France Bouvier also provided examples of times she felt intimidated or manipulated by Politis.

"It's the consistent nit-picking and always having to have the last word that is the problem," she said. "It's a lot for me, I can't imagine what the staff is going through."

Mayor says integrity commissioner's investigation was flawed and unfair 

Politis defended himself in an hour long presentation to council. He told his colleagues he was not given enough time to review the reports before they were filed publicly. 

He added the integrity commissioner failed to interview three of the witnesses that he recommended as part of the investigation. 

"I find the approach and process was heavily biased in favour of the complainants [town staff]," he said. 

"There was little to no empirical evidence," he added. "I would have expected more from the integrity commissioner. We should all expect more." 

Politis maintained that exercising oversight over the town's affairs is not harassment, and suggested there may have been performance issues with some of the employees. 

He enlisted lawyer Guy Giorno to provide a legal opinion on the integrity commissioner's reports. 

Votes on how to sanction the mayor fell along gender lines

Councillors Marck Recoskie and Rodney Hoogenhoud expressed support for the mayor throughout the meeting, with Recoskie casting doubt on whether the behaviours described in the report really constituted harassment. 

Council voted to impose the maximum penalty for municipal misbehaviour, which is to dock the mayor's pay for 90 days. 

Charron-Lemieux, Bouvier and coun. Susan Nelson would have liked to include other penalties, such as a requirement that Politis undergo therapy or workplace safety training before interacting with staff again, but other councillors did not support this idea.