Kim Wingrove, former CAO of the town of Collingwood, was on the witness stand today at the judiial inquiry, and part of her testimony described a relationship with former council members and the former CEO of Collus that went from poor to worse.
“The relationship that I had with council is not what I would consider the norm,” said Wingrove this afternoon. “To put it quite bluntly, I did not feel there was a great deal of respect for me or my office.”
The inquiry was called to investigate the 2012 sale of 50 per cent of Collus to Powerstream and the subsequent decisions on how to spend the proceeds. Wingrove was CAO of Collingwood at the time of the sale.
Wingrove referred to former mayor Sandra Cooper, former deputy mayor Rick Lloyd and former councillor Ian Chadwick.
She said she had been reprimanded by both Cooper and Lloyd for what she said was conversations she had with members of the public.
“I was told that I wasn’t to be speaking with those people … there would be things like, it wasn’t my role to be undertaking those conversations or it wasn’t appropriate,” said Wingrove, who was CAO of the town of Collingwood from 2010 to 2012.
“Councillor Chadwick was a very significant critic of me,” continued Wingrove. “He spent a lot of time sending me emails asking me for clarification and critiquing my work.”
She characterized council’s response to her comments or advice as unpredictable.
She said sometimes her comments were well-received by all of council.
“Other times it was clear I had stepped on a landmine and my opinion and advice was not welcome,” she said.
Further, Wingrove said from the early days of her employment with the town, she struggled to maintain a working relationship with Ed Houghton, who was the CEO of Collus and the Director of Public Works for the Town of Collingwood.
“I always felt I was one step behind,” said Wingrove. “I never felt that I was getting a full story of things. He would tell me as much information as what he thought I needed to know.”
Wingrove said the town department heads reported to her, with the exception of Houghton, who reported to the Collus board of directors. She indicated his role as director of public works meant he was also a town department head.
“It was made abundantly clear Mr. Houghton would not report to me,” said Wingrove, later clarifying she was told that by former mayors Chris Carrier and Sandra Cooper.
Wingrove said she scheduled monthly meetings with department heads, and Houghton would routinely not come to the meeting or would cancel in advance.
“Within the first three months of joining the town, I was more or less at my wit’s end,” said Wingrove. “I felt as though I had done something wrong and I couldn’t figure out what that was.”
Wingrove said she met Houghton outside the planning building one day where she “confronted” him on the issue of their working relationship and communication. She said Houghton would tell her
“He just wasn’t having it … It was like he was angry with me from the time I started there … or resented my presence,” said Wingrove. “I often felt that he considered me very much inferior and not really worth his time.”
Counsel for the inquiry brought up emails from Sandra Cooper letting council know the strategic planning session planned by Wingrove was postponed. Cooper forwarded the email to Paul Bonwick, who replied with “Perfect.”
According to the inquiry foundation document and Wingrove’s testimony, on separate occasions both Bonwick and Houghton met individually with Wingrove. Bonwick met with her to tell her of his communication work for PowerStream and a group of local distribution companies called CHEC, and Houghton to discuss a “plan” to seek out potential purchasers for Collus.
She didn’t make the connection between the two, but said her meeting with Bonwick “put [her] antenna up.”
“I knew when certain individuals approached me … they wanted to be able to say, ‘I talked to Kim,’” she said.
Kate McGrann, lead counsel for the judicial inquiry asked what she did about that feeling.
“I was not at that point deeply troubled about this,” said Wingrove. “I didn’t see that there were any kind of grave implications for the town.”
Aside from a short conversation with Town Clerk Sara Almas, Wingrove said she didn’t talk to anyone else about her meeting with Bonwick.
“Who was I going to tell?” asked Wingrove. “Where I had a specific situation and sufficient detail to have a meaningful conversation, I would reach out to our legal representation … Things like this that were ill-defined, subjective based on my own gut instinct, I didn’t have a place to take them … I would have to wait and see if something came from it in a more substantive way.”
Regarding her meeting with Bonwick, Wingrove said she didn’t read into it, but could have tried to get more information.
“I would say at this point, it would have been prudent for me to ask more questions than I did,” said Wingrove.
She will return to the witness stand on Thursday for the hearing beginning again at 10 a.m. in the town hall council chambers when lead inquiry counsel, Kate McGrann, will continue with her examination
Following McGrann’s examination, each participant or their legal representation, will have an opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
