In the two years since they were hired, Principles Integrity received eight complaints against Collingwood councillors and responded to 33 requests for advice, according to a new report provided to councillors this week.
During the July 10 committee of the whole meeting, councillors received a report from the town’s integrity commissioner Principles Integrity, outlining the work the group has done since they were hired in 2021 to provide integrity commissioner services for the town.
The report covers from 2021 until May 31 of this year.
“All but one (complaint) we were able to resolve without the need for full investigation and a report to council,” wrote a representative for Principles Integrity in the report, which is unsigned.
The sole complaint that resulted in a public report was in regards to former Coun. Tina Comi, where the integrity commissioner ruled in early 2022 she had breached the councillor code of conduct during a closed virtual meeting in the summer.
Comi resigned her seat on council on Jan. 21, 2022 – the day the report was released – penning a letter to the community. Comi didn’t state in her letter why she resigned, and did not return requests for comment from CollingwoodToday at that time.
While dismissed complaints are not typically made public, a complaint against Mayor Yvonne Hamlin was made on Nov. 13, 2022, regarding statements Hamlin made on social media concerning the endorsement of a minister’s zoning order for the Poplar Regional Health and Wellness Village project at the last 2018-22 council meeting.
The complaint to the integrity commissioner claimed her post broke one of the rules in council’s code of conduct which states that councillors shall not actively undermine the implementation of council decisions. However, the complaint was dismissed and Hamlin herself released the ruling on her social media channels.
In the Principles Integrity report, it is also noted that the group responded to 33 requests for advice from councillors. Other activities mentioned in the report include assisting the town in developing new codes of conduct for council and committee members, providing training to the town’s BIA, and running educational training sessions for candidates in the 2022 municipal election.
Since 2021, the town’s manager of accountability, procurement, and risk management Michael Trueman says the town has paid $22,578.61 to Principles Integrity for integrity commissioner services.
An integrity commissioner provides confidential advice to the mayor, city councillors and local board appointees about their own situations in regards to codes of conduct, the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and other policies governing ethical behaviour.
If an integrity commissioner rules that policies have been broken, a report on the complaint and findings is presented to a municipality’s council.
In July 2021, council first voted to appoint Principles Integrity to provide the town with integrity commissioner and lobbyist registrar services.
Previous to that, the Town of Collingwood received integrity commissioner services through a blanket arrangement of the County of Simcoe, where the county appointed Principles Integrity to act as integrity commissioner for its member municipalities under one agreement and one retainer, paid through the County of Simcoe’s annual budget. If a municipality within the county used the services, they would only be responsible for paying the per diem.
At their meeting on July 10, council voted unanimously in favour of receiving the report with no discussion.
