Cochrane mayor’s pay should be suspended 90 days, integrity commissioner rules

Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis bullied and harassed two senior managers in the town, the community’s integrity commissioner has ruled.

H.G. Elston also recommended suspending the mayor’s pay for a total of 90 days. Both recommendations would have to be approved by council.

The managers are the town’s chief administrative officer – who is now on medical leave -- and the director of community services, who has since resigned.

At issue are the mayor’s actions since his election in 2022, promising to bring in sweeping changes to the way the community is run.

Politis wanted more direct control over town operations, and began to second-guess decisions made by the managers and push them to submit to his demands.

In Ontario, however, there is a clear division of powers in municipalities, with elected politicians setting the policy and staff implementing it under the direction of the CAO.

The integrity commissioner said Politis should have his pay suspended for 45 days each for complaints made by the CAO and the director, for a total of 90 days. Councillors will decide on the issue at their meeting Jan. 30. (File photo/CTV Northern Ontario)

Local politicians – including mayors -- are not supposed to try and tell municipal staff directly what to do, in part because staff have expertise in rules and regulations that must be followed to safeguard against lawsuits and other legal issues.

Politis, however, insisted he was not trying to exceed his authority, he said he was only trying to ensure council policies were being adhered to, not taking direct oversight of the work staff was doing.

In one case, he questioned the CAO and the director about a decision to award a HVAC contract to the lowest bidder.

Politis insisted that a local contractor who had complained to him actually had the lowest bid, and convinced councillors to rescind the contract.

Dispute over contract award

But the director said that the out-of-town contractor had, in fact, submitted the lowest bid. Further, he said the local contractor was also the biggest donor to Politis’ election campaign.

In turn, Politis accused the director of having a conflict because he sat on a board with someone who works for the out-of-town contractor.

Eventually, it emerged that the lowest bidder had been awarded the contract in the first place and the award was restored.

In another case, Politis tried to order the director to open the retractable doors at the pavilion for the indoor Carnival Community Dance, making it an indoor/outdoor event.

The director replied that it wasn’t allowed because of stipulations of the liquor licence, but it could happen the following year.

“The director told the mayor that he could make this happen next year, but that it was too late to change the liquor licence area or add the additional required security needed to do it for this year,” Elston wrote.

But the mayor showed up at the dance, got keys from a staffer and opened the doors.

Police, alerted by the director, showed up a short time later and asked the mayor what was going on, leading to a meeting with police, the mayor and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission.

In another incident, the director closed the Tim Horton Event Centre in June 2023 for safety reasons because of heavy forest fire smoke. While saying he wasn’t “second-guessing” the decision, Politis sent an email questioning why the decision was made. (File photo/CTV News Northern Ontario)

Tim Horton Event Centre

In another incident, the director closed the Tim Horton Event Centre in June 2023 for safety reasons because of heavy forest fire smoke. While saying he wasn’t “second-guessing” the decision, Politis sent another email questioning why the decision was made.

“I’m sure you will agree that ‘safety’ is an extremely volatile word that requires focused due diligence, and a word that can misplaced, misused, or even leveraged if we don’t treat the use of it with the highest standard of seriousness,” he wrote.

“Once it is invoked, liabilities are initiated.”

Also in June, Politis questioned why the water slide wasn’t open. When told it didn’t have TSSA approval, he held a meeting with the director and CAO where he accused them of “being ‘too anal’ in their pursuit of policy compliance.”

“The director told me that, at the end of the meeting, the mayor addressed the CAO, holding her pending evaluation over her head, saying that ‘this will be reflected in your evaluation,’” Elston wrote.

“In response, the mayor says that ‘this is another gross misrepresentation, even outright lie in places by (the director),” Elston wrote.

“‘I would never take such an unprofessional cheap shot as threatening the CAO in front of her subordinate.’ The mayor acknowledges, however, that he did indicate to the director that ‘unfortunately, all I am seeing is ego right now.’”

In July 2023, council passed a resolution giving the mayor the authority to make “day-to-day decisions that would be typically required from the chief administrative officer,” Elston said.

And last November, councillors deferred a resolution that would have suspended such policies as the code of ethics and the staff and council relations policy.

Power imbalance

In his decision, Elston wrote that there’s a power imbalance between municipal employees -- who often are not held in high esteem by the public -- and local politicians.

“When push comes to shove between a member of council and an employee, the difference in status and perceived authority often leaves the employee feeling vulnerable, defenseless and necessarily deferential,” the report said.

“How can a worker in the parks department stand up to one or more members of council (especially the head of council)? The truth is they can’t and any assessment of a complaint of workplace harassment in the municipal workplace must factor in this power imbalance.”

In this case, Politis went beyond his role as mayor and attempted to micromanage “town business and events.”

“The written submissions that I received from the director and the mayor, along with the emails, confirmed for me that the mayor either did not understand the roles and responsibilities assigned in the Municipal Act and town policies or chose to deliberately ignore them,” Elston said.

When it came to the director, Elston said there was bad blood linked to policies Politis implemented in an earlier term that he felt the director had undone.

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Elston said Politis should have his pay suspended for 45 days each for complaints made by the CAO and the director, for a total of 90 days. Councillors will decide on the issue at their meeting Jan. 30. Read the report on the CAO here and on the director here.