Letter To The Editor and Editorial ...Pefferlaw News

Letter to the Editor

Many of you have read in this
publication or been told I
had filed a personal lawsuit
funded by the Town of Georgina
against an employee of the
Town John McLean the one
time Director of our Leisure
Services Department who is on
a long term leave of absence.
You need to know that the information
that you received is incorrect.
The lawsuit was never a personal
lawsuit between Mr.
McLean and myself. As the
highest ranking elected official
in the Town of Georgina and the
CEO of the Corporation, your
Town Council was advised that
the proper way of filing a lawsuit
on behalf of the Corporation
was to have it filed in my name
and it was decided unanimously
to use that advice in filing the
lawsuit.
The issue that was in question
was whether a Town employee
(Mr. McLean) The Director of
the Leisure Services Department
lied when he wrote letters to the
editor that stated he was required
to write reports that were
contrary to what he believed
because he was directed to do so
by either myself or another
elected member of Georgina
Town Council.
The Council of the Town of
Georgina along with discussions
with members of our senior
management team agreed that
Mr. McLean had lied about his
responsibilities and that was not
the way Town business was
handled.
In order to protect the integrity
of our business and the employees
of the Town of Georgina
who write reports as part of their
regular duties we sought advice
from the Town’s solicitors. We
were told that we should formally
ask for a retraction of Mr.
McLean's comments. We did so
and Mr. McLean refused to retract
his false comments.
We were then advised that the
only other way to seek a retraction
was to launch a lawsuit and
our solicitors’ advice was that it
should be in the Mayor's name
as he is the CEO.
Town Council voted unanimously
to do so. Once the suit
was launched and there was no
initial response from Mr.
McLean and we reviewed the
possibility for extended delays
by Mr. McLean and the potential
for excessive costs we decided
to withdraw the suit. Perhaps
we got poor advice or the
Administration at the Town
should have disciplined Mr.
McLean in some other way. We
listened to our constituents and
we responded immediately.
However the fact remains that
Mr. McLean lied about his responsibilities
and he should be
held accountable for his statements.
As an elected official I know I
am subject to scrutiny and criticism
and I have never shied
away from either.
The public has a right to that
dialogue and I welcome it.
If the ROC or any other project
is a failure or a success I as always
will take full responsibility
for my involvement.
However I will never accept and
I should never accept on behalf
of every resident of this Town, a
Head of a Department paid with
your tax dollars who is involved
in millions of dollars of projects
blatantly lying about his involvement.
Robert Grossi, Mayor.

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Pefferlaw News Editorial

No complacency in Georgina...

First and foremost… congratulations
to the residents of Georgina
for speaking out and taking
action. Pierre Elliott Trudeau
wrote me a letter once
and said, “there is no other
alternative but to have faith in
the people.” Boy, was he right
in Georgina’s case. Way to go!
In my opinion, apathy and
complacency are the harbingers
of deceit in a democracy. And
I was so delighted to see so
many people stand up and fight
for what they believed in.
The official reason given for
discontinuing the defamation
lawsuit between “plaintiff”
Rob Grossi and “defendant”
John McLean was “the Town’s
intent has been clouded by
some misunderstandings.”
I wonder what that means.
Does it mean that the people of
Georgina got things wrong
when they stampeded en masse
as digital ambassadors on
Facebook and various other
internet blogs?
In addition to that question, I
have some other overriding
queries about this entire fiasco.
First, Mr. Grossi said in his
statement that this “was never a
personal suit” but one endorsed
unanimously by council. I
stumbled across this quote
which suggests that the courts
will not allow governments to
sue for defamation:
Corbett of the Superior Court
of Justice for Ontario wrote
that: “no government may
bring an action in defamation…
Everyone should be free
to criticize democratically
elected governments, be they
federal, provincial or local,
without risking a defamation
action…
Second, if council tied this suit
up in a bow with Mr. Grossi’s
name on it so they could use
public funds to sue for defamation,
doesn’t that contravene
the statement above?
Third, if it was never a private
suit, then why was it necessary
for Mr. Grossi to declare a
conflict of interest in two
closed meetings?
Fourth, in the statement Mr.
Grossi read after council decided
to drop the suit, he said:
“we listened to your concerns
and we agreed to move on”.
If they were listening, then
why wasn’t the by-law rescinded?
It seems to me that is
what most people were upset
about.
Fifth, if John McLean is still an
“employee” of the town as Mr.
Grossi stated in his statement,
then why wouldn’t his legal
bills be paid for from the
town’s insurance policy which
covers employees who are being
sued?
Now, although the suit has
been dropped, it doesn’t sound
like the matter is quite over.
I’ve heard that a Keswick
woman will make a deposition
at the February 13 council
meeting where she will demand
an investigation and ask
council to rescind the indemnification
by-law. Now that
should be interesting especially
if Georgina taxpayers turn out
en masse for that one. I think
I’m going to start calling this
mess “Georginagate”.
Karen Wolfe, Editor.