Wednesday November 6: Midhurst councillor to respond to “integrity” report
AWARE News Network
The Integrity Commissioner appointed by Springwater Council has found Midhurst Councillor Jack Hanna to have breached the township’s code of conduct and recommends that he be reprimanded.
The report to the November 6 meeting of council is not signed, but Jeffrey Abrams and Janice Atwood-Petkovski of Principles Integrity (the Toronto consultancy set up by the two former Vaughan municipal staffers who perform “integrity” functions for a number of municipalities) are to speak to it this coming Wednesday. The meeting is open to the public.
The complaint was filed by CAO Robert Brindley, who recently retired.
Both the circumstances and the justification for the finding are bizarre.
Hanna’s comment, in an email sent out yesterday to residents, states:
“I can confirm to the residents of Springwater that I absolutely did not make the alleged comments. I believe this is a vindictive, malicious and vexatious attempt to discredited me and impact my credibility. I am proud of my working relationship with the professional staff. Please do not let any fabrications and/or inflammatory wording erode your confidence in staff or this council.
“Hopefully, those responsible can be exposed and held accountable. I do regret that the investigation into these accusations will have an impact on tax dollars. I cannot apologize for something I did not say.”
This is further evidence of how a code of conduct or other such legislation can be weaponized and a trivial matter blown out of proportion.
An extreme example of this happening occurred in Adjala Tosorontio during the last term of council. The targets were Deputy Mayor Floyd Pinto (now mayor) and Councillor Bob Meadows (now deputy mayor).
Another example, using the compliance audit process, was the costly persecution of former Springwater Mayor Bill French.
On Wednesday, Councillor Hanna will have an opportunity to respond. If you are a Springwater resident or a Simcoe resident whose councillors may face similar actions, we urge that you attend. All of the electorate suffers when attempts are made to intimidate or silence our representatives.
Previously, on the AWARE Simcoe website:
Springwater code of conduct discussion
Jack Hanna !
Bob and I appreciate all of your very hard work and diligence for all the taxpayers of Midhurst!!! Your honesty, integrity, and loyalty is always apparent in all that you do to serve all of us. We are traveling home from B.C, so were unable to be at the meeting last night… and I sincerely believe that your good truth will prevail!
Kindest regards!!!
Thank you for all that you do .
Maria and Bob Burns