Northern Bruce Peninsula’s deputy mayor will be going 30 days without pay after the municipality’s integrity commissioner found she breached several sections of the code of conduct.
A report from the integrity comissioner Harold Elston was brought forward at Northern Bruce Peninsula’s meeting on Monday concerning a complaint filed against Deputy Mayor Debbie Myles.
Council endorsed a recommendation from the integrity commissioner to suspend Myles’ compensation for 30 days over comments she made in a phone conversation in May with a municipal harbour master.
Some background provided in the integrity commissioner’s report says as a result of work being done on the Lion’s Head dock at the start of the 2022 boating season, some of the vessels in that harbour were moved to the Tobermory Harbour to facilitate the on-time launching of all vessels.
The report says Myles became aware of this arrangement, but was under the mistaken assumption the transferred boats were not being charged. She felt this was wrong, as there is a waiting list for Tobermory.
An email was sent out regarding this to Northern Bruce Peninsula CAO Peggy Van Mierlo-West on May 20.
Mierlo-West clarified some of the boats were going to be at the Tobermory Harbour until the project is complete, at which time they would return to Lion’s Head.
She added the boats have all been charged for the 2022 season.
The integrity commissioner’s report says Myles immediately responded by asking how they have the room in Tobermory to allow for more boats, and if it is the case, why can they not get some of the boats off the waiting list in Tobermory?
Mierlo-West says she was not able to answer the question but would reach out to the harbour masters and respond the following week.
“Presumably not content to wait to hear back from the CAO, Deputy Mayor Debbie Myles called … the Tobermory Harbour master, shortly past noon that same day. This report concerns complaints following from that telephone call,” says integrity commissioner.
Elston’s report says the complaint against Deputy Mayor Myles was received on May 26, following the May 20 phone call. The integrity commissioner notified Myles on June 18 of the complaint lodged against her.
The report claims Myles called the harbour master to ask if she was busy and then proceeded to ask questions surrounding the boat lift for Lion’s Head and Tobermory, and insinuated boaters were receiving free dockage.
The harbour master then instructed Myles to contact the CAO for questions, Elston’s report says.
The report adds before ending the conversation, Myles apparently stated, “you need to grow a thick skin or get out.”
Myles responded to the integrity commissioner saying she had known the Tobermory harbour master for about 20 years and their relationship had always been friendly and cordial.
She acknowledged calling the harbour master, but says she was only joking.
The report says Myles believes she did what she felt was her job, and that was to relay the complaint of a taxpayer to the attention of the CAO.
The integrity commissioner says it is always difficult to choose between competing versions of a conversation, particularly when there is no direct or corroborating evidence. He was satisfied, however, that the harbour master had accurately replayed the tone and content from May 20 as she had nothing to gain by making the complaint and no reason to embellish what was said.
Mayor Milt McIver commented on the report during Monday’s council meeting, saying he thinks council sometimes gets confused as to what their responsibility is.
“It is not going around telling other staff what to do. The CAO is our employee, and if we have anything to discuss, it’s through our CAO,” says McIver.
