Email scandal on back burner
It may be a while before the public knows what’s happening with St. Catharines regional Coun. Andy Petrowski.
Only two people can speak about a meeting with Regional Chair Alan Caslin last week where Petrowski asked for a leave of absence in the wake of his email imbroglio — and neither he nor Caslin are talking.
Petrowski sent the email that started a media firestorm locally, nationally and internationally last Monday.
The message was sent to St. Catharines regional councillors, the St. Catharines city clerk, the head of Brock University security, local radio stations, and Niagara Student Transportation Services. An image of a naked woman sitting on a stool with her legs spread was embedded in Petrowski’s message, which was in response to an email notification from Niagara Region about lane reductions on the Burgoyne Bridge.
Petrowski apologized immediately and blamed someone else for using his account.
He hasn’t taken questions about the incident since requesting his leave.
The Standard attempted to contract Petrowski to clarify why has requested a leave — and when he plans to return to his duties.
“No comments for Fake News and please stop sending me any more emails,” he responded.
While Petrowski wasn’t commenting, he was active on social media after the terror attacks in London, England.
Caslin last Wednesday provided a three-sentence news release about his meeting with Petrowski. He wouldn’t take direct questions. The statement didn’t address what council will do about Petrowski’s vacant seat — or whether Petrowski will continue to be paid.
Prof. David Siegel, a Brock University municipal politics expert, said there isn’t much precedent to guide the chair or council in this case.
“I think the regional chairman is probably wise to err on the side of not disclosing a huge amount of information,” Siegel said. “It will take some time to think this one through.”
Caslin’s director of communications, Jason Tamming, couldn’t offer any transparency — citing privacy concerns.
“To be clear, the regional chair does not grant a leave of absence,” Tamming wrote in response to questions. “Requests for leave are subsequently transmitted to Niagara Region human resources for any appropriate action.”
“Due to privacy legislation, the corporation cannot provide further information regarding the leave of absence.”
Conrad Spezowki, a spokesman for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, said individual municipalities have the power to decide whether councillors are paid during a leave of absence. He directed the reporter back to the Region.
Siegel suggested the Region isn’t going to dock Petrowski’s pay.
“Yes, he would still be getting paid — unless he has decided to return the money,” Siegel said.
Spezowki said that under the Municipal Act, council could declare a member’s seat vacant if he or she is absent from meetings for three successive months.
Should Petrowski stay away that long, council then could fill the seat through a byelection or by appointment.
Recently, Port Colborne Mayor John Maloney missed about five months on medical leave after suffering a stroke. A ward councillor, Bea Kenny, serving as the city’s deputy mayor, sat in his place at regional council.
“There are other cases, such as when Bill Longo was mayor of Thorold,” Siegel said. “His wife was suffering from a terminal illness. They gave him what you could say was an indefinite leave of absence to spend time with his wife at a difficult time. It was just a tacit agreement. After a three-month period, they could have exercised the right to declare the seat vacant. They chose not to do that — for good reasons.”
Councillors who run in provincial or federal elections have also taken unpaid leaves of absence during the campaign, though it isn’t mandated under the Municipal Act.
Caslin’s office also announced last week that Petrowski’s access to his email account and corporate devices was suspended.
It’s the second time Petrowski has said someone has used his device to send a message that landed him in hot water. More than a year ago, Niagara Regional Police Chief Jeff McGuire received a text from Petrowski’s account saying, “Hello clown are you a tyrant.” Soon after that, Petrowski resigned his position as vice-chairman of the police services board to spend time with his ailing father.
The chair’s office didn’t respond to a question about whether Petrowski’s electronic devices were checked for pornography.
Tamming said regional councillors don’t have to sign a policy agreement for electronic devices. There are policies, however, in place.
The policies, which were forwarded to The Standard by an anonymous councillor, state the Region provides councillors with Samsung Tablets and iPhones, or they are also free to use their own devices if they chose. Private devices must still conform to policy.
One section says all computer network traffic (including but not limited to email and Internet activity) and all storage media is subject to random inspection.
Petrowski’s offending email disappeared from the Region’s system and the inbox of councillors early last week.
Some objected to staff going through their accounts and deleting items, prompting Carmen D’Angelo, the Region’s CAO, to respond in an email sent to all councillors and senior staff.
“As you may be aware, this email was sent to members of council, regional staff and external agencies,” he wrote in an email obtained by The Standard.
“The email included content in violation of the Policy CS.C008.7, entitled ‘Electronic Communications and Internet Use Policy’ (dated May 30, 2011). I have attached the policy for your reference.”
D’Angelo said the decision to delete the email was taken in accordance with the policy. One copy was retained and archived.
“Although the email was removed from staff and councillors’ email accounts, this does not necessarily imply that regional staff read the emails. Thus, I would like to explain the process utilized by the chief information officer. In order to delete the emails identified above, an automated process was run against all regional mailboxes (including staff and councillors) to search for and delete emails with the subject line, RR81 (St. Paul St. W.) Lane Restrictions, sent and received on May 29, 2017.
“This automated process was run without any interaction from staff. The result was a log file indicating if any emails meeting the search criteria (were found, they) were deleted.”