Petrowski violates code — again
An integrity commissioner has again found that St. Catharines’ Andy Petrowski has violated Niagara Region’s code of conduct for councillors.
In a report scheduled to come before regional council Thursday evening, integrity commissioner Edward McDermott, of the law firm ADR Chambers, found Petrowski violated council’s code of conduct by failing to declare a conflict of interest in April while attempting to block the previous integrity commissioner’s investigations into his conduct.
“I accordingly recommend that council issue a formal reprimand to Coun. Petrowski for failing to disclose a personal interest which may be affected by his requests to the corporate services committee at its meeting of April 19, 2017,” McDermott’s report says.
Regional council is expected to vote on the report Thursday night.
The call for a reprimand represents the fourth time the councillor has been found in violation of the code of conduct this year. It is also the fifth time an integrity commissioner found Petrowski broke the code of conduct.
McDermott’s office investigated Petrowski’s conduct after a complaint by St. Catharines resident Haley Bateman, who alleged that Petrowski violated the code of conduct during a public meeting on April 11, and again on April 19 during a corporate services committee meeting. In his report, McDermott said Bateman also alleged Petrowski violated the provincial Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. However, McDermott said it is not within his purview to rule on violations of the act, writing that a judge would have to determine that.
It was during the April 11 meeting that Regional Chair Alan Caslin, on advice from then regional clerk Natasha Devos, gave Petrowski permission to address an open session of the Region’s procedural bylaw committee as a member of the public rather than as a member of council. During that meeting Petrowski “spoke as a resident regarding the current code of conduct and also made references to the handling of complaints under the code by the former integrity commissioner,” the report says.
Bateman’s second allegation stems from the April 19 corporate services committee during which Petrowski requested that all outstanding integrity commissioner investigations “be held in abeyance until an external legal opinion is received.” At the time, former integrity commissioner John Mascarin was investigating some 20 complaints against regional councillors including several against Petrowski.
At the committee meeting, committee chair and Port Colborne Coun. David Barrick accepted Petrowski’s request that Mascarin’s investigations be put on hold until council could determine if the code of conduct violated the Charter of Rights of Freedoms. The full regional council ultimately rejected the idea, voting instead to allow Mascarin to produce his reports.
In his report, McDermott said during the April 11 meeting Petrowski “alternated between his councillor seat in chambers, as a member of the committee, and seats in the public gallery throughout the meeting.”
He said because Petrowski was granted permission to speak as a member of the public by Caslin, the councillor did not violate the code of conduct.
McDermott did, however, find Petrowski violated the code by not declaring a conflict of interest when he requested that Mascarin’s reports be put on hold when he knew he was under investigation.
“In my view, in these circumstances, Coun. Petrowski had an obligation to disclose that he had this personal interest before making his request to the committee,” the report says. “The fact that no vote was held on these requests does not absolve him of his obligation under the code of conduct to disclose his personal interest and refrain from ‘judging, inspecting or making any decision on any matter in which they have a personal or family interest.’”
McDermott’s report recommends council issue a formal reprimand to Petrowski for violating the code. It also recommends that he and the entire council be reminded they “are required to comply with all provisions of the code of conduct,” particularly those requiring councillors to avoid “conflict of interest or unethical behaviour.” He also said council should be reminded they must “immediately declare a conflict of interest as soon as such conduct is identified.”
McDermott’s finding represents the fifth time Petrowski has been found in violation of the regional code of conduct since he was elected.
In 2013, then-integrity commissioner Robert Swayze found that Petrowski used “bullying and intimidation” when dealing with regional staff. Swayze did not recommend a formal punishment but said Petrowski’s pay should be docked if he bullied staff again.
In May 2017, Mascarin found Petrowski violated the code of conduct three times — twice in Twitter posts and a third time during an April Pelham town council meeting.
A week before Mascarin’s reports were to be made public, Petrowski made another bid to block their release by taking most of council to court. Petrowski and Fort Erie resident Fred Bracken jointly sued 24 of 31 councillors claiming that Petrowski’s charter rights were being violated by Mascarin’s reports and the regional code of conduct. Petrowski claimed the reports would hurt his reputation and injure future job prospects because he would “be known all around the region and beyond as a bully.”
A judge threw the case out of court and ordered Bracken and Petrowski to pay $5,500 in legal costs to the Region.
In late May, Petrowski took a leave of absence from council after he sent a pornographic image to nearly 100 people from his government email account. He apologized for the incident via email, saying while he sent the offending email, someone else attached the image to it. Petrowski has never explained publicly how this happened nor identified who the alleged other person is.
He returned to council in September after apologizing for “any untrue statements” he made about Islam on his Twitter page and for his conduct during the Pelham council meeting.
In his report, McDermott said B ate man provided written statements and was interviewed in October. The integrity commissioner provided Bateman’s statements to Petrowski, who was invited to respond. The report says two requests for a response and an interview to Petrowski went unanswered.
On Sunday afternoon Petrowski sent an email from his regional account to all councillors and Caslin saying this story, published online Saturday night, was the first he had heard of McDermott’s report.
In the email, obtained by The Standard, Petrowski decried the integrity commissioner process as unfair, claiming he was “trapped again” by “deficient code” which he said was changed months ago to “address a host of shortcomings.”
Petrowski also said he has serious concerns about the lack of “due process” and “fairness” and claims he received no communication from McDermott’s office.