Region pays out $44,500 to councillor
Legal expenses tied to integrity commissioner reports have been reimbursed by the Region
A regional councillor was paid more than $44,500 for legal expenses related to integrity commissioner reports earlier this year and a court case that spun out of them, Postmedia has learned.
Regional staff declined to name the councillor in question until the matter is brought before council Thursday night. However, St. Catharines Coun. Andy Petrowski is the only councillor subject to an integrity commissioner’s investigation who was also involved in a court case not covered by regional insurance.
In May, interim integrity commissioner John Mascarin found Petrowski violated council’s code of conduct. Petrowski attempted to block the release of Mascarin’s reports by taking most of regional council to court, claiming the reports violated his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The courts rejected Petrowski’s claim and ordered the councillor pay the Region’s legal costs.
A corporate services department report, scheduled to come before council Thursday, says a councillor submitted expenses for legal costs incurred “on an integrity commissioner matter.”
The report says $44,571 has been paid to the councillor, but does not say who authorized the payout.
Acting regional commissioner of enterprise resource management Jason Burgess would not identify which councillor received the money, saying his department is “trying to treat all councillors the same.”
Burgess said he expects further details to become public during Thursday’s council meeting.
Burgess did confirm the $44,571 was paid to a single councillor, and that sum also includes legal expenses submitted as a result of a court case directly related to Mascarin’s reports.
St. Catharines Regional Couns. Kelly Edgar and Brian Heit were also subject to the integrity commissioner complaints, which were dismissed. They are also subject to a lawsuit currently before the courts. They both say they did not seek reimbursement for legal expenses from the Region. According to the report, the Region’s legal insurance is covering their costs in the lawsuit.
The corporate services report also shows the Region spent $124,067 on external legal services related to the integrity commissioner reports. Burgess said the court case connected to the $44,571 payout is included in that figure, but said he would not break down the specific costs without further direction from council.
On May 10, Mascarin ruled against Petrowski after investigating three code of conduct complaints against the councillor.
Two complaints were about his activity on Twitter. The third was about Petrowski’s behaviour at an April 25 public meeting in the Town of Pelham.
Mascarin called Petrowski’s social media activity puerile, disdainful, insulting, amateurish, ridiculous, odious.
“This is not a case of a single offensive tweet — there are six separate instances of offensive tweets being sent out by the councillor,” Mascarin wrote in one of three reports. “What the tweets are not is thoughtful or illuminating or enlightening or humanizing. The councillor’s tweets do not attempt to elevate the level of discourse on the issues they purport to raise in any way — they merely seek to incite and provoke.”
On Mascarin’s recommendation, council voted to demand an apology from Petrowski.
Council also voted to remove Petrowski from his committee posts until he takes sensitivity training.
The day before Mascarin released his reports, Petrowski sought a temporary injunction under the charter to stall their publication. Petrowski, who represented himself in court, named 24 of the 31 regional councillors as respondents in his suit.
Justice David Edwards tossed out Petrowski’s case and awarded the Region court costs. Petrowski and Fort Erie resident Fred Bracken, who joined Petrowski in seeking the injunctions, have to pay $5,500.
Petrowski was going to respond to the demand that he apologize after the reports were released, but then he took a personal leave of absence after he sent out a pornographic image from his Regional email account. In July he called the requirement for sensitivity training “a joke” and told CKTB 610 AM that he will not apologize to council.
The payment of $44,571 in legal expenses to a councillor comes as the Region is under fire for how it handles councillor expenses.
Earlier this month The Standard learned taxpayers were covering Fort Erie Regional Coun. Sandy Annunziata’s trips to Toronto to appear on a radio talk show three or four times a month. He claimed $4,100 in travel expenses to the show in 2015 and continues to be a regular guest.
Although the appearances are not official council business, Annunziata maintains he uses the talk show “to promote Niagara and the Town of Fort Erie.”
Regional Chair Alan Caslin declined to discuss Annunziata’s expenses, saying he could not comment in the absence of a policy governing councillor expenses.
Former regional chair Debbie Zimmerman said she wrestled with councillor expenses during her term as head of council and kept a close eye on them.
“From time to time, things would be highlighted that were unusual,” she said. “It was clear. There was no debate. If there was any uncertainty around a claimed expense, we would review it. The finance committee would go through the expenses.“
Zimmerman said how council manages expenses directly relates to how it is perceived by the public it serves.
“Regional government has never been thought of very fondly by taxpayers. The only way to move the agenda forward is if people have faith in the things you were doing. The last thing you want is to have your government crippled,” she said. “This council has been crippled by constant code of conduct issues and now expenses. That’s not how you get business done. That’s not how you build confidence in the business community.”
Niagara-on-the-Lake Coun. Gary Burroughs, who served as chair before Caslin, said council tried and failed to get a handle on expenses in the past.
“During my time, I wasn’t concerned with the kind of thing Annunziata has been playing with, but with going to conferences. Some people were upgrading their tickets and charging the Region,” he said. “I had a report prepared. It went to audit committee, but it died at audit committee.”
Burroughs said in the past some councillors were using their mileage expenses to pad their pay cheques.
“There were people driving to Ottawa for conferences because they made more money than if they flew. Then they would bill for parking,” he said. “Those were the kinds of things on which we needed some policy. It should be the least expensive method of getting to wherever you were going.”
The Standard has requested a month-by-month break down of councillor expenses from the Region for this term of council as part of an examination of how council is spending public dollars. The Region says it is working on the request.
Multiple messages left with Petrowski and Caslin went unanswered Wednesday.