Carleton Place mayor docked 270 days’ pay
All six of Carleton Place’s town councillors have voted unanimously to suspend the pay of the town’s beleaguered mayor, Louis Antonakos.
The pay suspension is to cover 270 days, 90 days for each of the three rulings made against him by integrity commissioner Robert J. Swayze in a report released last month.
The January ruling was the third time in the past year the municipal ethics watchdog has reprimanded the mayor.
Swayze had recommended a suspension of 30 days’ pay, but left it to council’s discretion to suspend additional salary, up to the maximum of 90 days for each ruling.
Prefacing her motion, Coun. Theresa Fritz spoke to the packed town hall meeting and said: “I’m sick and tired of what’s going on. I share your pain.
“Here we are again because of the actions of one man.”
In a brief interview after councillors made their decision Tuesday night, Deputy Mayor Jerry Flynn said Antonakos will remain as mayor of Carleton Place. Flynn said he wished councillors could have done more, but suspending the mayor’s pay was all that was in their power.
Some members of the audience were wearing pink ribbons, hats and T-shirts to signify “anti-bullying.” A few leaped to their feet after the decision was made and applauded.
Antonakos was also wearing a pink ribbon on his lapel. Resident Erica Hogan, addressing the mayor in the public part of the meeting, said seeing that “makes me want to rip that ribbon off you.”
The councillors’ decision on sanctions against the mayor comes after a series of events that some residents say attracted unwanted attention to their picturesque town of around 11,000 residents about 50 kilometres west of Ottawa.
On Feb. 2, Doug Black, a veteran councillor, was charged with assaulting Antonakos after officers from the Lanark County OPP detachment were called to the town hall in response to the report of a fight inside the building. The altercation allegedly happened in the foyer after a verbal sparring match between the two longtime adversaries.
On Jan. 22, Swayze ruled against Antonakos in three complaints. Two involved the mayor’s “discreditable conduct” toward former mayor Paul Dulmage and Kory Earle, president of People First of Ontario, an advocacy group for people with intellectual disabilities.
Earle said the mayor “bullied him ... calling him a liar and arguing with him” at fundraising events.
The mayor suggested Earle’s complaint was politically motivated, and provided photos of Earle at town functions with Flynn.
A third complaint, by Coun. Brian Doucett in November 2017, was about an email Antonakos had sent to the integrity commissioner and copied to current members of council. It contained two confidential reports about Dulmage, prepared by Quintet Consulting in 2010, when Dulmage was mayor and Antonakos a councillor. The reports were from a closed council session. Sending the report to current councillors, who were not serving in 2010, “is clearly a serious violation of the code as well as MFIPPA (the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act),” Swayze ruled.
At a Jan. 30 council meeting, three councillors wore pink antibullying ribbons.
Soon after, Antonakos, in a lengthy message posted to his personal Facebook page in response to “escalating issues that now deeply concern me,” called for a judicial inquiry into the “actions and transgressions” of his fellow members. He accused councillors of delivering “misinformation” to Swayze.
Earlier in the meeting Tuesday, Antonakos said he did not agree with the conclusions of Swayze’s report “but I respect the process
and Mr. Swayze’s decisions.”
Antonakos moved that council request a ministerial inquiry from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs into a number of questions, including the investigative methods of the integrity commission. None of the councillors supported the motion.
Antonakos put on his chain of office after councillors voted to
suspend his pay then continued to meet after a short break. He declined to comment on the decision, except to say that he is still calling for a judicial inquiry.
“I think it’s a great thing council has done,” said Earle, who was sporting a pink scarf. “But I think we will have a more defiant mayor than ever.”