Di Biase should lose 3 months’ pay, integrity chief says
Recommendations conclude scathing report on Vaughan councillor’s missteps
The deputy mayor of Vaughan should be docked three months’ pay after violating the city’s code of ethics by pressuring municipal staff to help a contractor, the city’s integrity commissioner has ruled.
In a report published Friday night on the city’s website, Vaughan integrity chief Suzanne Craig said deputy mayor and Regional Councillor Michael Di Biase broke nine code of conduct clauses and recommends that he face a 90-day loss of salary.
The ruling comes after a fourmonth investigation into a complaint that Di Biase intimated city staff to aid a construction company, Maystar General, that was helping build his cottage. The complainant alleged that he tried to influence members of the city library board to award a contract to Maystar.
Craig held back on recommendations for discipline in her interim report on Monday, saying she was awaiting a response from Di Biase’s lawyer, Morris Manning, who later accused her of “bias” and asked her to remove herself from the probe.
Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua defended Craig, saying, “the integrity commissioner has my full confidence.”
Craig’s report says that Di Biase openly defied the city’s code of conduct, repeatedly tried to obtain confidential tendering information in direct contravention of city procurement rules, and used his authority to intimidate staff who pushed back.
Di Biase has been a politician in Vaughan for decades and was mayor from 2002 to 2006.
In a separate investigation, an internal city audit found that municipal staff feared reprisals from their superiors for voicing criticism. With files from Noor Javed