Head, Clara, Maria Councillor Chris Dowser has been cleared of a complaint that he breached township policy, following an investigation by the municipal integrity commissioner.
The report was prepared by investigator Sean Sparling on behalf of Expertise for Municipalities (E4m), the townships’ integrity commissioner of record.
The complaint was filed by former townships councillor Ernie Villeneuve late last year following a meeting at which Dowser discussed how he had directed a staff member to repair a “bear” fence at one of the townships’ waste sites.
In his report, Sparling said it is clear under the HCM “council-staff relations policy” that individual council members have “no individual capacity to direct staff to perform, or not perform functions or duties.”
The policy states that the CAO-clerk is responsible for staff.
“Members of council who need to engage with staff and officers must do so through the CAO-clerk. This would include both in-person, verbal, written and electronic messages.”
Sparling said that under the Municipal Act, it is also clear that “elected officials do not perform the day-to-day operations of a municipality.”
“Their function is at an oversight level and a policy development role,” he said.
“Essentially, the mayor and council steer the ship. They do not row.”
In Dowser’s case, however, the issue is that “there are not enough staff members to row the ship effectively and weather (a) staffing shortage faced by the municipality,” Sparling said…
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