Carlow Mayo’s council has accepted an Integrity Commissioner report which calls for the municipality’s mayor to be reprimanded and docked pay for violations that include harassing staff.
Chief Administrative Officer Jenny Snider confirmed to MyBancrotNow.com that the report that investigated actions by Randy Wallace was tabled and approved at a recent meeting. It says the mayor of Bancroft’s eastern neighbour municipality breached a Municipal Code of Conduct in three of seven incidents investigated.
The report, authored by Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming of Cunningham Swan Lawyers, focused heavily on the results of its sixth and seventh investigations, and concluded that Wallace was “bullying and harassing staff on multiple occasions.” One other code violation was related to his using municipal equipment, doing tasks that should be done by employees.
The sixth investigation focused on jokes made about an employee in which Wallace suggested the employee be “put in a dunk tank” because the employee was “not well liked.”
The report suggests Wallace receive a public reprimand and provide a written apology for the comments.
The seventh investigation says Wallace interfered with a bylaw officer’s work, often “challenging the decisions staff was making.”
The report says, for this, the mayor’s pay should be suspended for 30 days. It says, “a clear message needs to be sent to both the Mayor and the public, that interference in bylaw investigations will not be tolerated.”
Messages left with Wallace seeking his comment were not returned on Monday, Oct. 16. It’s not clear if the report’s recommendations have been applied to Wallace yet.
Carlow Mayo’s next council meeting is on Nov. 21.
