Online documents spark legal threat

Ex-clarence-rockland CAO sets deadline

The City of Clarence-Rockland has less than 24 hours to retract what one former employee says are defamatory documents from its website or face a lawsuit.

Ex-chief administrative officer Daniel Gatien served a letter to the city and its mayor, Marcel Guibord, last Thursday threatening to sue the municipality should it not remove 46 documents and a related press release from the city’s website.

Gatien said the documents contravene the indemnity agreement he made with the city upon leaving his position in August 2011. He added that the documents raise defamation and privacy issues.

“They’re accusing me of some illegal acts (and) that I’m being investigated by the OPP, which are both false,” said Gatien. “Obviously that’s had an impact with my employer, and with my future employers if I apply for jobs ... ”

Gatien is currently working as the director of economic development for Russell Township.

Guibord posted the documents on July 12, explaining in a press release that they were being released under the Municipal Freedom of Information Act in relation to an ongoing OPP investigation. The release says that city funds may have been misused as a result of these documents being withheld.

The release says that Gatien sent Guibord a letter threatening legal action as a result of releasing the documents.

Now, Gatien is giving the city until Thursday to remove the documents and press release from its website. He also wants a publicly posted apology.

When contacted by the Citizen, Guibord would not comment on the documents or on Gatien’s most recent letter. He said the city council is planning an in-camera meeting to discuss the matter, but he would not reveal whether the meeting would fit within Gatien’s deadline.

The posting of the documents has been a point of contention in a town whose council has been stricken with internal disagreements since Gatien’s time as CAO. Four councillors held a news conference earlier this month condemning the posting as unrelated to the OPP investigation. The current CAO, Michel Bellemare, has also objected to the documents’ being on the website because of the potential for a lawsuit against the city.

As of Wednesday night, Gatien had not received communication from the city or the mayor on this issue, and the documents remained online.