SometimesYou Have To Step Back

To see the whole picture.

In 2007 the Mayor met George Rust D'Eye, a former municipal solicitor. at a conference. Mr. Rust D'Eye apparently advised he could advise council how to deal with a problem the Mayor had articulated. The Mayor brought the good word back to Council.

Mr Rust D"Eye's services were soon called upon, on the pretext of a leak from an in-camera meeting. The entire York Region Police Department knew Aurora had turned down the opportunity to have the Regional Police Headquarters built on land we had for sale. The Region offered the appraised value for the land. When word got into the press three months later, for the Mayor's purpose, a "leak" was assumed.

Mr. Rust D'Eye advised Council,in a lengthy legal report, A Code of Conduct would solve the problem of " leaks". The Mayor has informed Council and the community, he helped to write it. It was adopted by Council, with no obvious sign it had been read and despite the contention of Councillor Allison Collins Mrakas who has several Masters Degrees and is in fact a Manager of Ethics in an academic institution, that the Code as written was unenforceable. .

In November 2008, an Integrity Commissioner was appointed. Eight months later. on June 18th 2009 , a contract was finally agreed upon.

Before that however, Council retained another former municipal solicitor (they never retained George Rust D"Eye again) and assigned him the task of watching videos, reading Blogs and comments to Blogs to ferret out perceived offences against the Code, report his findings and document an iron-clad complaint to be submitted to the Integrity Commissioner as soon as the agreement was signed.

In the meantime, a "special" volunteer, much admired by the Mayor, exercised the privilege at public forum of a council meeting to heap unfounded and unsubtantiated accusations and allegations. on the head of the same member of the Town's Council who was eventually the object of Council's complaint to the Integrity Commissioner.

In March of 2009, public donations had been solicited in support of a public event by the Mayor's favourite appointed volunteer member of a sub-committee of an Advisory Committee of Council. No account was subsequently offered of proceeds of the fund-raising or their disposition. In fact , statements were made that proceeds had merely paid for a wing-ding party. Self-righteous outrage was expressed that a councillor would seek answers to the obvious question.

Where are the funds, publicly solicited under the auspices of the municipality and donated for a public event.?

Subsequently, the complaint of six members of council, prepared by the lawyer, accompanied by his twenty-three page legal report was filed with the Town's Integrity Commissioner.

But first it was publicised in every known venue at taxpayers' expense.

Within the body of the complaint, the solicitor states, in light of the potential penalty that the councillor's "remuneration might be suspended" represented a "pecuniary benefit" to said Councillor. By choosing to attend a secret meeting of the council of which she is a member, she is in a Conflict of Interest.

At no time apparently. did it occur to the parties that;

1. accusing a Councillor under a Code of Conduct containing clauses of their adaptation; 2.retaining counsel, as a Council to compile a list of perceived contraventions of the clauses; 3.filing a complaint with an Integrity Commissioner retained on a contract , written to suit their purpose;
might represent egregious contravention of every principle of fairness and ethical conduct.Let alone Conflict of Interest.

Weeks later. behind closed doors, with the town solicitor, they received the decision their complaint had not been accepted. In effect, it had been dismissed.

Consequently they removed all authority from the Commissioner immediately and severed his contract.

But not apparently without a prior meeting being held between the Commissioner, Town solicitor and the Mayor, in an attempt to persuade the Officer to see the error of his ways.

I think: a reading of the Code... according to Rust D'Eye... circa 2008 ... reveals a number of
ethical principles which were never intended to be anything more than hieroglyphics on a page.