City council’s code of conduct: One politician, four probes in the past year

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Usually a rare occurrence in London during the past decade, there have been four city council watchdog probes in a little over a year against the same politician, Coun. Susan Stevenson, with two finding violations of the code of conduct. LFP’s Jack Moulton takes a look at the code, how it works, and who’s been in the spotlight.

WHAT IS THE CODE?

City council’s code of conduct is effectively the rule book on how to be a local elected official.

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It covers how a city councillor or mayor conducts themselves in their public role personally and officially in and out of city hall, the sharing of confidential information, and using city property and services.

The code forbids politicians from taking part in problematic behaviour such as bullying and intimidation both against Londoners, their colleagues, and city staffers.

That also extends to using an elected office inappropriately, giving preferential treatment to people and bodies with a direct or financial interest, sharing confidential legal information from the city and accepting certain gifts.

WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES?

If a politician is found to have breached the code by the city’s integrity commissioner, presently the Principles Integrity firm, they have several options depending on the severity of the violation.

Punishments can range from a reprimand, essentially a formal rap on the knuckles by council, to removal from a committee, to a pay suspension of up to 90 days. At the 2024 council salary of $65,137, a 90-day pay suspension amounts to more than $16,000.

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WHO’S BROKEN THE CODE?

There have been four high profile code of conduct violations in London during the past decade, with three of them happening within the past two years and two against the same politician.

On Tuesday, Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson had her pay docked for 30 days for “bullying” deputy city manager Kevin Dickins, “unnecessarily” naming him in a social media post which altered a quote from a news article on homelessness.

The integrity commissioner found the post “appeared to suggest” Dickins was responsible for encampments in the city, and naming him made him vulnerable to targeting from the public. The watchdog also took aim at Stevenson’s “badgering” of staff during meetings.

Stevenson was reprimanded almost exactly one year prior for posting photos of identifiable, apparently homeless people to social media with commentary on crime and vandalism. The rookie councillor also has had two other watchdog probes against her dropped.

Stevenson has appealed the December 2023 reprimand to the Ontario ombudsman and promised to appeal the latest decision, maintaining her defence that the investigations were not fair.

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In May of 2022, then-Ward 1 Coun. Michael van Holst was found in violation of the code of conduct by creating his own “creed” and promoting it as a way to avoid rules requiring COVID-19 vaccination for council and city staffers.

A reprimand was recommended but failed in a tie vote of council, with van Holst himself casting the deciding vote to quash his own punishment.

In 2016, then-Mayor Matt Brown and Coun. Mauren Cassidy were unanimously reprimanded by council after an affair between them.

ONTARIO’S OVERHAUL

Back in May, both Stevenson and deputy mayor Shawn Lewis ordered city staff to review London’s code, ironing out the complaint process and criteria, and to set more clear rules around social media, looking to other cities for inspiration.

Just last week, Queen’s Park tabled legislation that would produce a standardized code of conduct for cities across Ontario, mandate code of conduct training for councillors, create a provincial authority to set out the local investigation and complaint process, and to allow for stiffer penalties.

Under the new law, councillors could be removed and disqualified from office for serious violations, which could only happen if both the local and provincial integrity commissioner agree it should happen, and if council (minus the offender) unanimously votes in favour.

jmoulton@postmedia.com

@JackAtLFPress

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