Integrity commissioner sanctions Chatham councillor over hub project comments
Chatham-Kent's integrity commissioner is recommending council impose sanctions against Ward 6 Coun. Alysson Storey. The investigation ensued after citizen complaints were filed.
It's suggested her pay be docked for 10 days with a formal reprimand imposed.
Council will now have to vote on the recommendations.
In a 76-page report issued by the municipality's integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig, it said Storey "undermined staff" and "contravened" the code of conduct — mainly during a town hall meeting in Dresden in October and subsequent council session.
"[Storey] either failed to appreciate or did not attend to the fact that her public comments at the Dresden meeting were received as undermining a council interim decision to move into the next phase of the project and in undermining the recommendations of staff upon which the decisions were made," Craig said in the conclusions portion of her report.
That Dresden meeting was centred around the proposed $53-million Chatham-Kent community hub project that would combine municipal offices, along with a library and museum in the former Sears store at the Downtown Chatham Centre shopping mall.
Among other things, Craig said the councillor made comments about municipal staff not being open about the project's financial specifics — and "gave oxygen to inaccurate comments."
"A councillor may speak on a matter of importance to the community but may not make misstatements about staff's advice or drive a narrative which undermines staff reports through unsupported suggestions," the integrity commissioner penned.
CBC News contacted Storey but didn't hear back by publication.
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