Wilmot councillor resigns from Canada Day task force following integrity commissioner’s finding
Wilmot Ward 4 Coun. Lillianne Dunstall has resigned from the township’s Canada Day task force after an integrity commissioner recommended she be removed as council’s representative due to a conflict of interest.
“Although I do not agree with the commissioner’s findings, I do understand your logic, sir, and I also don’t want the integrity of this Canada Day task force questioned in any way or my colleagues to be put in an uncomfortable position,” said Dunstall, at a council meeting Monday.
Integrity commissioner Robert Williams cleared Dunstall on numerous complaints made by a resident relating to her motives and motion to create a township-led Canada Day event, but found her involvement on several local service clubs that have members on the task force represented a conflict contrary to council’s code of conduct.
From the outset of discussions about establishing the Canada Day task force last year, Dunstall acknowledged she’s a member of three New Hamburg organizations — the Optimist Club, legion and board of trade — and that her husband has also played a significant role in at least two of the same organizations.
The complainant, whose name is being withheld due to confidentiality, charged that Dunstall exploited her position on council and the legislative tools available to her in order to fill seats with “members of select service clubs.”
“I considered many allegations made by the applicant and after exhaustive investigation, I concluded that only one was sustainable,” Williams told council. “I hasten to clarify that this is not a matter of a pecuniary interest but what is called a personal interest pertaining to exercising what is referred to in the code as undue influence.”
When putting together her motion to create the township-led Canada Day event, Williams advised Dunstall that she didn’t need to declare a conflict, but advised subsequent steps may have to be treated differently if/when council considered the allocation of resources.
It’s not a matter of which organizations are “at the table” but how they secured those places, Williams noted in his report, adding that his assessment is consistent with the understanding of an “apparent or perceived” conflict of interest under the code of conduct.
Williams recommended Dunstall be removed as council’s representative on the task force and publicly acknowledge she participated in council business to benefit local organizations of which she is a member, but told council it could also choose to do nothing or take more punitive recourse.
Council voted unanimously to receive the report as information and took no further action.
Coun. Steven Martin will replace Dunstall as Wilmot’s council representative on the Canada Day task force.