CHIARELLI PROBE
Renewed push for ouster
Appalling accounts of Coun. Rick Chiarelli's sexualized comments and inappropriate behaviour are prompting more calls for a process to remove a council member from office for abhorrent conduct.
“I get that this is a democratic process and he was voted in, but new information has surfaced that I think a lot of his constituents are not pleased with at all, and there's nothing in place for them,” said Stephanie Dobbs, one of the two former Chiarelli staffers whose formal complaints against the councillor were investigated by the city integrity commissioner Robert Marleau.
Marleau's second report on conduct allegations against Chiarelli reveals more damning details about the councillor's manipulation of women who worked in his office and his inappropriate comments to them.
Chiarelli, who has publicly denied all allegations, didn't participate in the integrity investigation and he is challenging the integrity commissioner's jurisdiction in court.
As late as Oct. 30, Chiarelli's lawyer wrote to the integrity commissioner's legal rep to say he “remains medically unable to participate in this process” and accused the integrity commissioner of an “apparent political agenda” against Chiarelli, who had openheart surgery last December.
Council in July voted unanimously in favour of suspending Chiarelli's pay for 270 days effective Aug. 14 and it's likely that council on Wednesday will agree to extend his salary suspension for another 180 days, based on the latest integrity report. The integrity commissioner is recommending a 90-day salary suspension for each of the two complaints.
But that's the most severe penalty available to council under the city's code of conduct. Council members can't turf a colleague from office.
If council members are imprisoned or if they miss three consecutive months of meetings, they can be removed from office. Otherwise, only an election can change the officeholder. The next municipal election is in October 2022.
Dobbs said she plans to write to the province to call for changes that would allow removing a council member from office for shameful behaviour.
It's unclear if the province is taking note of what's happening at Ottawa City Hall.
Asked if the province would consider legislative changes so that a highly problematic councillor can be removed from office, Minister of Municipal Affairs spokesperson Rachel Widakdo said: “We understand that Coun. Chiarelli has had 270 days pay suspended by his fellow councillors. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing does not have the authority to remove an elected municipal councillor because of their behaviour.”
The integrity commissioner found Dobbs, who in the latest report is described as Complainant 2, and the second complainant “credible, honest and open” in assessing their evidence.
The report discloses Dobbs's evidence in great detail.
Dobbs, who worked for Chiarelli between November 2015 and February 2018, said the way Chiarelli operated “was almost an open secret” at city hall, but she doesn't fault people for not coming forward since it's hard to do.
“When you start to feel like you have people that will back you up, it becomes a bit easier,” Dobbs said.
A separate investigation ordered by the city determined that Chiarelli engaged in harassment in the workplace. City legal staff have been trying to determine how council can respond to the finding, potentially through a public reprimand or another method.
The integrity commissioner's report said that one of the witnesses interviewed in the integrity investigation “made a complaint to the City of Ottawa Human Resources department about misconduct in (Chiarelli's) office relating to him” in April 2019.
The city on Monday wouldn't disclose when it hired an independent workplace investigator.
City clerk Rick O'Connor cited the Occupational Health and Safety Act in saying that information can't be disclosed when it comes to complaints made under the city's violence and harassment in the workplace policy and program.
One of the letters that Chiarelli's lawyer sent the city said the councillor learned of the workplace investigation on Aug. 16, 2019.
Dobbs said the city hasn't been doing enough to look out for political staffers and she called for mandatory attendance at training sessions spelling out their rights. She said Chiarelli discouraged office staff from speaking to human resources or the clerk's office.
The city has made changes during the Chiarelli investigation to better protect people when they interview for political jobs and once they become political staff.
Another former Chiarelli staffer, Nancy O'Brien, who provided information as a witness in the integrity investigation, is also pushing hard to get the provincial government's attention on the Chiarelli case.
“By speaking loudly I am hoping to cause a ripple effect and put a spotlight on the issue,” she said.
The women who made the formal complaints and the witnesses aren't identified in the integrity commissioner's reports.
Dobbs said she was inspired by O'Brien and Victoria Laaber, another former Chiarelli staffer who was a witness in the integrity investigation, in putting her name to her complaint after the latest report was released. People need to know there are real people behind the experiences described in the report, Dobbs said.
“We are not disposable, which is how we were treated within that office,” Dobbs said.
“(Chiarelli) is hoping people lose interest, they forget and they move on. I think there's enough of us publicly speaking about it that we're not going to let that happen.”