Emails belittling citizens, councillors brought to light

Mayor says tone of messages sent by councillor ‘profoundly disturbing’
By Nicole Million Midland Mirror Jan 18, 2012
MIDLAND – Midland council is facing fresh controversy after a series of emails lambasting citizens and members of council was made public this week.

Coun. Mike Ross delivered a package containing the email correspondence to his fellow councillors on Jan. 13. He was inadvertently sent the emails late last year. The Mirror obtained copies of the emails on Tuesday.
“Prior to Christmas, I became a recipient of several unprofessional and disrespectful emails that were sent to my home email by a fellow council member,” he wrote in a letter accompanying the package. “These emails were clearly sent to my home email address in error. However, once in receipt of such destructive communications regarding council and members of the Midland community, I could not turn a blind eye. To ignore such behaviour is to promote it.
“This type of communication can only hinder our ability to serve the people who elected us,” he added. “The Town of Midland deserves better.”
The emails were sent from the town’s server and bore a Town of Midland email address. Ross blacked out the sender’s name in the package he distributed to council in hopes that the author would step forward and take responsibility. Coun. Zena Pendlebury confirmed to The Mirror on Tuesday that the emails originated with her.
One of the emails refers to a citizen of Midland as a “piece of work” and correspondence from that person as “B.S.” A subsequent message calls members of council and their spouses by nicknames such as Chuckles, Colio and the Burnses, and mocks the hairstyle of one councillor’s husband.
Mayor Gord McKay said he finds such behaviour “profoundly disturbing.”
“It’s inappropriate in every respect,” he said. “People of Midland have every right to be respected by members of council, and we shall be meeting shortly to decide what should be done with this.”
In response to the nicknames, McKay said such name-calling is “juvenile” and “unworthy of councillors.”
“It reminds me of grade school,” he said.
Pendlebury responded to the package of emails on Tuesday by sending a letter to her fellow councillors and The Mirror. She would not comment on the content of the emails, but said she felt the need to put Ross’s letter and the emails into proper context.
Pendlebury said about four months ago – due to what she called a technological glitch – she received an email informing her of a change in Coun. Jack Charlebois’ private email address. That new email, she said, actually belonged to Ross.
“I accept full responsibility for this error,” she said. “Sometime starting (in) September 2011, any and all emails sent from me to Coun. Charlebois were, in fact, received by Coun. Ross. These emails were from my personal Hotmail account and my personal device. There were some emails that inadvertently were sent from my midland.ca account, (and) all were of a personal nature.”
Pendlebury added that during a period of more than two months, Ross continued to receive emails not intended for him.
“Coun. Ross never to this date has contacted me or attempted to do so to inform me that he was receiving this correspondence,” she said. “(He) was fully aware by his own admission and from the outset that this correspondence was not intended for him … (and) kept quiet for over two months.”
When pressed to comment on the content of the emails, Pendlebury again refused, adding she is waiting to hear back from her lawyer.
“I believe that Coun. Ross had a responsibility to let me know after he started receiving the emails that there was a problem,” she said. “That’s all I am going to say. I am not blaming anybody. I am not saying he is wrong and I am right.”
In an Oct. 21 email about a charity supper, the writer noted the “other side” received a memo about the event, apparently referring to members of council who frequently vote contrary to the sender and the sender’s likeminded colleagues.
McKay said he is disappointed to see some still do not consider council to be one cohesive group, but rather one “side” against the other.
“I am aware of the divisions within council. This is obviously fully indicative of the nature of those divisions. I had hoped for better, and we will just have to redouble our efforts to see what we can do,” he said.
The mayor added emails referring to two councillors as “asses” and making sarcastic comments regarding Roy Ellis of the citizens group Midlandcommunity.ca are also disturbing.
“Obviously, councillors will speak for themselves, and that’s what you are seeing there. I have been in touch with Mr. Ellis and I have spoken publicly on this that we very much welcome public input,” said McKay. “This kind of commentary is entirely destructive of that process.”
Ellis said he had not seen the emails, but, when informed of a Nov. 10 message mentioning him by name – and referring to him as “an AH” and noting he was “digging a bigger hole for himself” with his continued public statements – he called it “very unfortunate.”
“I am very disappointed with whoever wrote that, because they’ve obviously taken this personally,” he said. “I’d like to ask them … what sort of hole can I be digging? And what sort of consequence would there be for me doing what I am doing?”
Ellis added emails sent back and forth between elected officials that belittle members of the community and fellow councillors are “totally inappropriate.”
“My last posting a week or so ago (on the Midlandcommunity.ca website) really talks about your values and behaviours. You are playing on a team, showing respect and those types of things, and this is just obviously contrary to the values I want to see in people.”
Deputy Mayor Stephan Kramp introduced a notice of motion Jan. 9 regarding the adoption of a code of conduct for council. It will be discussed at the next council meeting on Jan. 23.
McKay said the municipality has rules on how staff and council should use town facilities – including email accounts – but there are no penalties for misuse: “This is what we’re going to have to talk about – what can be done to correct this and make sure this type of thing does not happen again.”
McKay said it’s possible this conflict could further splinter an already fractious group, but he’s hoping council will be able to overcome it.
“It will depend on the willingness of certain councillors to try to do better,” he said. “If we do not learn from this lesson, I can’t really think of a lesson that would bring it much more into the public light.
“Quite clearly, this kind of discussion is not helpful at all to council, it’s not helpful to the Town of Midland, and it only brings us into disrepute.… I can’t think of words strong enough to condemn this.”