Integrity commissioner set to report to Region

The integrity commissioner hired by regional council to investigate complaints against its members is ready to present his findings.

He just needs an invitation from council to do so.

John Mascarin of Toronto said he is awaiting word from Niagara Region to co-ordinate a date for him to present his report to council.

“I don’t know when that will happen,” Mascarin said in a Thursday interview. “I have to wait to hear from the regional clerk and then we can look at our calendars to find a date that works.”

Acting regional clerk Natasha Devos said Thursday she was not co-ordinating a date with Mascarin, and did not know when he may be asked to present his report to council.

“You should talk to the chair’s office,” said Devos. “We just put on the agenda what council tells us to put on the agenda.”

However, in an email Regional Chair Alan Caslin said the acting clerk has informed him she is working with Mascarin to set a date.

Caslin said once a date has been set, it will be included in the council agenda published on the regional website the Friday before the meeting.

Mascarin’s report will be presented in the public session of council, Caslin said.

Mascarin was retained by regional council earlier this year to investigate complaints on an interim basis until a full, competitive process for the position can be undertaken.

Mascarin is also the integrity commissioner for City of St. Catharines.

Regional council did away with an integrity commissioner in February 2015 and rejected an attempt to reconsider the decision later that year. At the time, Caslin said he could police councillors and enforce council’s code of conduct without a commissioner.

In December, after St. Catharines regional Coun. Andy Petrowski shared an anti-semitic YouTube video on his Twitter page, Caslin put forward a motion asking for an integrity commissioner to hired.

At the time, he said his office had received 15 complaints about eight councillors in 2016.

The motion to hire a commissioner was approved by a 24 to 2 vote, with only Niagara Falls Coun. Bart Maves and Port Colborne Coun. David Barrick voting against it.

Under proposed changes to the Ontario Municipal Act, municipal governments will be required to have an integrity commissioner in 2018.

Mascarin would not disclose which complaints he has investigated, citing confidentially rules that are in place until he presents his report to council.

He said when his investigations are complete, he turns his report over to the clerk of the municipality, who is obligated not to show it to the governing council.

Once a date to present to council is set, Mascarin said he informs both the complainant and the subject of the investigation that the report is coming.