NPCA CAO claims reporter asking questions is ‘bullying’
The newly appointed Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority acting chief administrative officer has accused a Standard reporter of harassing him when asking questions about the embattled agency.
David Barrick sent an email to journalist Bill Sawchuk Friday claiming the journalist had bullied him.
“I am writing this note to formally advise you that neither I, nor any staff member at NPCA will tolerate harassment or bullying. Your aggressive and confrontational manner yesterday morning was very disconcerting and highly inappropriate,” wrote Barrick.
Sawchuk was at Niagara Regional Police headquarters Thursday morning to ask Barrick questions as part of a Standard investigation into recent turmoil at NPCA.
Barrick, a police board member and former Port Colborne regional councillor, often does not acknowledge interview requests from The Standard.
Given the seriousness of the investigation — it found that Barrick had been fired from his job at NPCA before being rehired and appointed CAO — Sawchuk went to the meeting to ask Barrick questions.
Sawchuk stopped following Barrick when it was clear he would not answer questions.
In his email, Barrick claimed Sawchuk “invaded my personal space,” which he said “will not be tolerated.”
“The fact that you singled me out in a group was not only highly unprofessional, but was discriminatory,” wrote Barrick.
Police board meetings are public and reporters routinely ask questions of officials in settings where there are other people present.
Barrick also wrote that he is no longer a public figure but a “private citizen,” suggesting a reporter should not ask him questions. As an employee of NPCA, Barrick’s salary is paid by taxpayers.
The Standard’s editor-in-chief, Angus Scott, called Barrick’s accusations “ridiculous.”
“Sawchuk was in a public space, approaching a public official. And that is what Mr. Barrick was at that time, despite his avowal he is now nothing more than a ‘private citizen,’” he said. “Now that Mr. Barrick’s duties as a regional councillor have ended, he still remains a public servant — specifically, he is the interim CAO of the NPCA, a publicly funded body.
“As the top bureaucrat of this taxpayer-funded organization, he is answerable to both his board and the public for how it operates. The media, including The Standard, will continue to ask him questions, fairly, reasonably, as Sawchuk did in this case. That’s our job.”
The Standard found that former NPCA CAO Mark Brickell fired Barrick, then the corporate services director, on Nov. 23. On Dec. 6, the NPCA board — led by and comprising defeated regional councillors — fired Brickell and appointed the agency’s clerk, Lisa McManus, as acting CAO.
McManus reinstated Barrick, went on leave and resigned the CAO position. Barrick was then made acting CAO by the rump board.
Barrick did not respond to interview requests for this story.
In addition to his email to Sawchuk, Barrick sent a memo to NPCA staff Friday.
“I am sure you are well aware that the NPCA has been under an incredible amount of scrutiny over the past, approximately, two years,” he wrote in the memo, obtained by The Standard.
“There has been a concerted effort to damage the reputation of this organization despite all of the evidence that points to it being in the best shape it has ever been, which is a direct result of the incredible staff (you) we have working here every day.”
This year, Ontario’s Auditor General found NPCA has to “restore the public trust” after finding the agency suffered from “significant issues” across several areas that included human resources and procurement policies, poor flood mapping data and leadership problems.
Barrick, who wrote he will not attempt to become permanent CAO, claimed NPCA’s anti-harassment policy applies to everyone, even those who do not work for the agency.
“There is a zero tolerance policy and that applies internally and to those outside the organization which arrive cloaked under the guise of transparency and public interest,” he wrote.
At a Dec. 14, 2017, regional council meeting, Barrick falsely accused Sawchuk and The Standard of trading “positive press” for confidential information. He made a claim a week after Niagara Region had illegally seized Sawchuk’s computer and notes during a council meeting and ejected him from the building. Ontario’s Ombudsman would later rule the Region violated Sawchuk’s constitutional rights.
One of Barrick’s last acts as a regional councillor was to attempt to get the Region to ask the Ombudsman to investigate leaks to The Standard. Councillors rejected the idea and instead voted to ask consultant and political science professor Andrew Sancton to look into the issue as part of his governance review. Sancton has yet to present his report on the matter, but has told The Standard he doesn’t have anything particularly useful to say to council on the topic.