Morocco can we ‘all come together’

After a year of integrity commissioner investigations and bad blood between a veteran councillor and some of her colleagues, one politician hopes everyone can “all come together” in 2018.

“We’re not always going to believe the same thing, or agree on the same issues, but I think the personal attacks, and the social media, that’s all got to stop,” said Coun. Joyce Morocco.

“Whatever happened to the days where you picked up the phone, or had a one-on-one (conversation) with somebody that you might be having a little bit of a disagreement? But airing your laundry out there with everybody pretty much in the world now on social media … I just don’t think that we need to do that.”

Morocco’s comments dealt with Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni, who has been at odds with Mayor Jim Diodati and senior staff for what she believes to be a lack of openness, transparency and accountability at city hall.

Ioannoni believes Diodati and senior staff have not always been forthcoming with her when she has asked for information that should be public.

In June, an integrity commissioner concluded Ioannoni improperly disclosed sensitive and confidential information discussed during a closed-door meeting in January to a third party who was not entitled to such information, a conclusion Ioannoni disagreed with.

In December, Ioannoni took to her Facebook page to post an allegation that a councillor ordered senior staff to look into private phone records of an employee — and they did.

She wrote that the councillor, in a separate instance, attacked this employee by screaming, swearing and pushing/poking them repeatedly.

Ioannoni wrote that instead of hiring an integrity commissioner, staff not only did not tell council about the complaint, they hired a private firm to investigate, paid this firm more than $20,000, and the councillor was found “guilty, for lack of a better word, of these allegations.”

She said “nothing” was done. Ioannoni did not identify the councillor by name in her Facebook post, but in an interview with the Niagara Falls Review confirmed she was writing about Coun. Wayne Campbell.

The allegations against Campbell have not been proven in a court.

Ioannoni’s comments on Facebook and to the Review led to a back-and-forth email exchange between her and the city’s director of human resources, Trent Dark.

During a Dec. 12 council meeting, Ken Todd, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the allegation Campbell ordered senior staff to look into private phone records of an employee is “absolutely false.”

Todd said he could not elaborate further because of an ongoing grievance dealing with labour relations.

Todd said he felt he had “no choice” but to file a complaint against Ioannoni with an integrity commissioner.

He said senior staff was “tired of having to stand here before council and defend ourselves.”

Todd said senior staff have answered questions posed to them by Ioannoni, in some instances on several occasions.

Separately, council voted to hire an integrity commissioner to investigate whether Ioannoni violated council’s recently approved code of conduct.

A section of the code states no councillor shall “use social media to publish anything, or allow anything to be published on their social media sites, that is dishonest, untrue, offensive, disrespectful, constitues harassment, is defamatory or misleading in any way.”

Ioannoni said in her nearly 20 years as a city councillor, she has “never seen such lack of information, such collective bullying … and I’ve never seen the level of nastiness …”

“I think there needs to be more openness and transparency and accountability to the residents on how we spend their money. I think council needs to act as a whole, and not be ruled.”

Ioannoni said she “really” likes that the public is more in tune with governments and agencies, and are more comfortable expressing their views.

“When simple questions aren’t being answered, the first question is why wouldn’t you answer that? I really think 2017 saw us be the year of public engagement — the year people really started to pay attention.”

Coun. Wayne Thomson said he’s “extremely disappointed” because at the end of last year he made a comment that he thought the current council “was one of the best councils that I had served on.”

“Unfortunately, in the last year, it has become a real challenge with bad feelings,” he said.

But Thomson said council has a “strong majority” and is still working “very well together, and that’s why we’ve accomplished what we’ve accomplished.”

Campbell said he finds Ioannoni’s dealings with her colleagues “problematic.”

“I think that on a personal basis, I think her attack on me (and Todd’s response) … when you look at that, what else can you believe that she’s saying has any truth behind it? I don’t say that in a negative sense, but she’s got some point to prove.”

Coun. Kim Craitor said “there’s always room for improvement” when it generally comes to how councillors interact with one another and staff.

“I’m not antagonistic, I’m very respectful, and I hear from the public, too, no matter what side they’re on … they all say the same thing — they’d like to see council focused on their needs and their problems and their issues,” he said.

As Diodati did in a recent yearend interview with the Review, councillors touted several successes in 2017, including moving the GO train, hospital and intermunicipal transit files forward; the groundbreaking of a new 5,000-seat entertainment theatre; and the refurbishment and replacement of 10 playgrounds.

As for next year, they noted the need for council to decide whether to implement a four per cent hotel tax; how to implement the city’s new parking rate strategy; how to deal with vacation rental properties, which in some cases have caused issues in certain neighbourhoods; and further advance the design for a new cultural hub and farmer’s market.

Diodati and councillors Vince Kerrio, Victor Pietrangelo and Mike Strange could not be reached for comment for this story.