Lavigne named as source of A’burg leak
“Circumstantial information” points to Coun. Jason Lavigne as the culprit who leaked confidential information from a Sept. 10 closed-door meeting of Amherstburg council, the town’s integrity commissioner concludes. Citing Lavigne’s “extraordinarily disappointing failure to co-operate” in the investigation, Bruce Elman, the integrity commissioner for both Amherstburg and the City of Windsor, is recommending a reprimand and a 45-day suspension of pay for contravening three sections of council’s code of conduct. The report goes to town council Monday night. If council approves Elman’s recommendations, it’s likely Lavigne would only lose a month’s remuneration since councillors are paid at the end of each month and this is Lavigne’s last — he failed to win re-election on Oct. 22.
One month of remuneration works out to about $1,328. Contacted Sunday, Mayor Aldo DiCarlo said he can’t see himself not supporting Elman’s recommendation.
“I’ve heard from a lot of angry taxpayers, everything from angry to frustrated, that first (the investigation) did cost them money, and now, that the people involved refused to co-operate.”
In his report, Elman expresses disappointment and exasperation that two principle players in this controversy refused to talk with him.
This all started at a Sept. 10 incamera meeting when councillors discussed some sensitive issue concerning the Jan. 1 takeover of policing in the town by Windsor Police. Two days later, the chair of the town’s police services board, Bob Rozankovic, sent an email to town CAO John Miceli, copied to all members of council, in which he raised issues discussed at the in-camera meeting. The email also mentioned he’d been contacted by “a couple of residents” who were also aware of the in-camera discussions.
At a special meeting on Sept. 17, council approved the integrity commissioner investigation in a resolution that also called on council and administration to cooperate fully. While Rozankovic wouldn’t tell council that evening who leaked him the information, he told the media that he’d tell the integrity commissioner.
In his report, Elman said he thought his investigation would be straightforward: he’d simply ask Rozankovic. He also tried to talk to Lavigne, who, based on preliminary investigations, appeared to be the councillor who leaked the information. (He was also the seconder of the motion that called for council to fully co-operate.) And he sent out a Statement of Assurance for councillors and senior administrative staff attending the in-camera meeting to sign and have witnessed, pledging they didn’t leak the information.
All five senior staff quickly signed witnessed Statements of Assurances, as did six of seven councillors (only four actually attended and participated in the in-camera meeting ). “Only Councillor Lavigne refused to sign the Statement of Assurance,” Elman writes. Meanwhile, repeated efforts to speak with Rozankovic went for naught, according to Elman, who said he was “disappointed, exasperated, and somewhat irate,” at being repeatedly rebuffed. Finally, on Oct. 24 Rozankovic refused outright to talk, according to Elman. Elman said he replied: “You could have ended this investigation before it began by disclosing the source of your information at the Special Council Meeting of September 17th, 2018, but you did not. You could have agreed to speak to me when I initially contacted you, but you did not. You could have spoken to me or simply advised me of the source of your information at any point in time over the last five weeks, but you did not.”
At every stage of the investigation you’ve added costs to the town, Elman continued. “In my seven years as an Integrity Commissioner in Windsor and, of late, in Amherstburg, I have never had an individual refuse to co-operate with me. It is extremely disappointing.” Lavigne also failed to co-operate, according to Elman, citing numerous dates during October when Lavigne — the only council member besides DiCarlo who sits on the police services board and was present at the in-camera meeting — either put him off or failed to respond. Elman wanted to ask Lavigne about phone calls Lavigne made to the town’s clerk Paula Parker. According to Parker’s logs, on Sept. 12: “He asked me that if he had just shared the content of the information discussed and not the actual discussion, he wouldn’t be in breach.”
Parker responded that it was Elman’s belief that just confirming the subject matter was a breach. Then Lavigne “asked what is the worst they could do to him — is it six months of pay they could dock me…” Two days later, according to her logs, Parker asked Lavigne if he would “own up to the breach of confidentiality…” Lavigne, according to the logs, “indicated that he was ‘unsure what he was going to do as yet.’ ” Attempts to contact Lavigne on Sunday were not successful.
In his conclusion, Elman said if Lavigne had taken responsibility for disclosing the in-camera information, he might have recommended that Lavigne be reprimanded and asked to publicly apologize. “However, Councillor Lavigne’s failure to short-circuit this Investigation on the night of September 17 and his continual lack of co-operation in the investigation during the ensuing six weeks, lead me to recommend a stronger penalty.” Mayor DiCarlo said he appreciates Elman’s frustration. “Those involved (Lavigne and Rozankovic) had an opportunity to address the issue when it came up and it’s unfortunate that they publicly stated they would co-operate and they didn’t,” he said. The mayor said he specifically asked Rozankovic where he got the information, and when he refused, there was little option but call the special meeting and seek an investigation. While the town hasn’t received the bill from Elman, all his work will end up costing the town much more than it needed to, the mayor said. He believes the integrity commissioner charges $300 an hour. “The cost probably doubled and tripled because the integrity commissioner, I think quite fairly, kept giving people another opportunity and then another opportunity, to co-operate.” He said he’s most upset by the lack of co-operation. “We’re all human, we all make mistakes, the big thing is what do you do when you have.”