No pay for Petrowski in November
Andy Petrowski's pay will be docked for the last month of his political career, after regional council considered two integrity commissioner reports regarding the behaviour of the St. Catharines councillor.
Council voted Thursday night to accept a recommendation from Niagara’s integrity commissioner — suspending Petrowski's pay for 30 days starting on Nov. 1, more than a year after he emailed a pornographic image to 95 people from his government email account on May 29, 2017.
St. Catharines Coun. Kelly Edgar said his constituents have “demanded that I support the recommendations” to suspend Petrowski’s pay.
“Even without these demands from my constituents … I believe this to be the right thing to do,” he added.
Petrowski has been on an unexplained medical leave of absence, with pay, since Dec. 4. Although the Region received reports from the integrity commissioner Edward McDermott’s office late last year concerning Petrowski, council previously took no action on the recommendations, due to the leave of absence.
But while voting in June to extend Petrowski’s time off, councillors also chose to deal with the integrity commissioner’s recommendations — regardless of his absence.
A few councillors, however, were concerned that suspending his pay could potentially aggravate the unknown health condition that required Petrowski to be away from his duties at regional council.
Welland Coun. George Marshall said it "might not be the best time" to dock Petrowski's pay.
Councillors, instead, chose to delay suspending Petrowski's remuneration until after his expected return on Sept. 25.
Only Marshall and Niagara Falls Coun. Selina Volpatti voted against the recommendation.
In addition to the code of conduct violation regarding the inappropriate e-mail, council also voted to reprimand Petrowski for contravening the code of conduct during an April 19, 2017, corporate services committee meeting.
The integrity commissioner determined that Petrowski violated the code of conduct during that meeting by asking committee members to place all active integrity commissioner investigations — including one against himself — in abeyance, pending a legal opinion.
Earlier this week, Petrowski, who has said he is not running for re-election, wrote a letter to council asking his pay not be docked.
In the letter, emailed Wednesday night to regional chair Alan Caslin and all council, Petrowski says he takes "complete responsibility for the transmission of the offensive e-mail which was sent on May 29, 2017 and offers an “unconditional apology” to those who received it, and hopes that apology will “finally bring healing and closure.”
“I am also requesting on compassionate grounds that council does not suspend my remuneration during my medical leave on compassionate grounds as any financial penalty would cause significant duress,” Petrowski wrote.
In addition to dealing with the recommendations regarding Petrowksi, councillors received reports from the integrity commissioner’s office exonerating both Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn and Regional Chair Alan Caslin of separate complaints against them.
The integrity commissioner ruled that although Augustyn violated council’s code of conduct by providing confidential information to the ombudsman’s office, no reprimand was warranted because Augustyn was acting in good faith when he did so.
That wasn’t good enough for Port Colborne Coun. David Barrick.
“I think there’s an opportunity perhaps to show good faith, and that councillor Augustyn acknowledges, takes ownership and apologizes for violating the code of conduct . ... Strictly speaking, it was a violation of our code of conduct. … Even Coun. Petrowski in a correspondence tonight takes ownership and apologizes for his breaches,” Barrick said.
“I was acting in good faith, and I don’t apologize for acting in good faith,” Augustyn replied.
Augustyn did, however, say he is “sorry that this caused all this kerfuffle.”
The integrity commissioner also dismissed an allegation against Caslin that claimed he used his position for personal gain by asking St. Catharines economic development office to promote properties he has available for rent.
The report says Caslin did not act “dishonestly, in bad faith, or that he used his political influence to further his personal interests” by opting “to utilize a legitimate government service available to anyone.”
In an earlier interview, Caslin said complaints “that don’t make sense” filed against members of regional council are costing taxpayers thousands of dollars.
“When you look at the number of complaints that are being filed, especially by the same people all of the time, it’s costing the taxpayer a fortune,” he said.
“It seems to be the same people making complaints that don’t make sense. Many of them are not even investigated, but even the ones that are being investigated are being dismissed, and we still pay for each and every one.”
He said integrity commissioner investigations cost about $5,000 to $10,000 each, “and that adds up to a lot of money very quickly.”
Petrowski's most recent leave of absence began three days after being asked questions by The Standard about a tweet in which he compared the hiring of a transgender minister by a U.K. church to “Sodom and Gomorrah” — two cities destroyed by God for their sins in Biblical mythology.
With files from Grant LaFleche
Allan.Benner@niagaradailies.com