Jon Willing and Taylor Blewett:
Embattled Rick Chiarelli shows up
Council chambers fell silent Wednesday morning as embattled College ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli walked through the door with family. When he slipped out of the building some two-and-a-half hours later, he left frustration and unanswered questions in his wake.
Chiarelli’s arrival was a surprise to many, considering that he has avoided appearing publicly since allegations of inappropriate conduct toward former staff and potential hires surfaced in September. Chiarelli had also indicated to council that he would not attend Wednesday.
But he’s never missed a budget meeting in his 30 years as a councillor, according to a written statement handed to reporters, and he “knows that the people he represents want him to be their active voice,” it said.
Budget day was also Chiarelli’s second-last chance to show up to a council meeting if he wanted to keep his seat. He’s been absent since September and the Ontario Municipal Act says that a councillor’s seat becomes vacant if they miss three successive months of council meetings without authorization.
Chiarelli arrived at city hall just before 10 a.m., sporting a dark suit with a poppy on his lapel. He declined to respond to accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct.
“I’d love to answer all those questions and I’m looking forward to it but I have to do that at the right forum, and the right forum has a requirement of confidentiality,” Chiarelli said.
What is the right forum, he was asked. “We’ll find out when the courts decide,” Chiarelli said.
Meanwhile, he’s standing by a statement released Oct. 3 in which he denies ever treating “a member of my staff (including job candidates) in a sexually harassing, discriminatory, or inappropriate ‘gender-based’ fashion.”
Chiarelli is accused of making lewd comments to employees and prospective hires, and asking staff to gather intel from people at strip clubs.
The councillor plans to file a judicial review application arguing that the allegations he’s facing should be investigated under workplace harassment policies or before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
The city’s integrity investigator is looking into the claims made about his conduct, which Chiarelli does not agree with.
In the weeks since accounts of his alleged conduct started making news, Chiarelli has spoken out about health issues that he says have impeded his ability to do his job, as well as to respond to the allegations against him in a timely fashion.
He requested a medical leave of absence that city council unanimously rejected last month. They were presented a doctor’s note that said Chiarelli suffered a fainting spell and was rushed to hospital on Oct. 12. Tests were ongoing and the councillor’s stress levels remained high, the doctor wrote, recommending that leave be granted.
Several of Chiarelli’s fellow council members said they didn’t have enough information to support his request.
On Wednesday, Chiarelli quietly took his seat between fellow councillors Theresa Kavanagh and Keith Egli. He participated in roll call, and sat through the remainder of the budget-day council meeting.
Midway through, a small group of people holding signs reading “I believe survivors” and “We deserve a safe work environment” assembled outside council chambers. They declined to respond to any media questions, leaving their signs to speak for themselves. They also declined to be identified, but Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard later said that some of his staff participated in the protest.
“I support them. They have a right to feel safe and secure in their workplace,” he said.
Menard explained that his staff have told him that Chiarelli’s return to city hall would make them uncomfortable.
“The types of things that we’ve been reading about, it’s not appropriate in any way,” he said. “They’re saying they wouldn’t be comfortable in meetings or in hallways with the individual, and the fact that (he is) back now, for a meeting, is I think unsettling to them.”
Victoria Laaber, one of Chiarelli’s former staffers who has gone public with her own account of his behaviour, criticized Chiarelli’s decision to show up at city hall Wednesday.
“I think I speak for all victims/ survivors of Rick’s acts when I say we’re outraged and disgusted,” Laaber said. “His showing up to council makes it clear that allowing councillors to keep their jobs despite bad behaviour is a ridiculous policy. He should be made to reimburse the city for money made from the time the allegations initially surfaced to the day he is finally removed from office.”
Laaber called on Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark to consider policies to address “inadequacies” and look into the ability to recall a city councillor.
Chiarelli left chambers immediately after council adjourned. In response to questions at a post-meeting news conference, Mayor Jim Watson called out this “frustrating” behaviour.
“He sort of snuck in, snuck out, didn’t say anything, didn’t explain exactly what he’s been up to. And we’re left with this … awkward and embarrassing situation that has become such a distraction almost every week around here,” Watson said. “I think you saw by the reaction that most members of council did not want to be seen near him, quite frankly, myself included.”
It’s not clear whether Chiarelli is back at work, the mayor said, and that’s frustrating for colleagues, staff and constituents. He urged
the councillor to publicly explain himself.
Chiarelli’s statement Wednesday said he’ll continue to address his medical concerns while doing “as much as he can” to fulfil the expectations of his job, with an eye to eventually returning full-time. In the meantime, Chiarelli said, his office staff will continue to serve College ward constituents and stay in contact with him.
The mayor was asked Wednesday if he was frustrated he couldn’t do more to intervene in the situation. Watson explained that it would be “undemocratic” to give a city council the authority to dismiss an elected member.
But, he added, “I think there probably should be some provision within the Municipal Act that would give the minister the authority to look at a situation and see that it continues to be untenable and something has to be done.”
“Because at the end of the day, Mr. Chiarelli’s constituents suffer. They had no input, for instance, in the budget process, and there are issues that are bubbling up in his ward.”
Menard said that he and fellow councillors Catherine McKenney and Jeff Leiper have been discussing their own letter to the province to request a change to rules that provide little recourse for those who want to hold Chiarelli accountable.
“It seems odd that there’s not a mechanism to deal with situations such as this,” Menard said. “And so we’re going to take some action.”
The hope, he said, is to get other councillors on board, and to send the letter by the end of the month. tblewett@postmedia.com jwilling@postmedia.com
His showing up to council makes it clear that allowing councillors to keep their jobs despite bad behaviour is a ridiculous policy.