‘We’ve had a very divisive council’: Integrity report finds two Rideau Lakes Twp. councillors breached conduct rules

Two councillors in Rideau Lakes Township are facing penalties following the outcome of separate investigations into their conduct.

The individual reports done by an Integrity Commissioner, which appeared on the October 7 township council agenda, focused on alleged conduct breaches by Councillors Jeff Banks and Paula Banks, and Councillor Marcia Maxwell.

Township Mayor Arie Hoogenboom says his council has been dealing with a string of integrity investigations, and these are just the latest.

“We have some very strong personalities on council and we’ve had a very divisive council in the last year and a half. So it’s certainly a difficult situation for the mayor,” Hoogenboom told the Brockvilleist, stressing he’s not taking any sides.

The Integrity Commissioner opened a Code of Conduct probe into the actions of Jeff and Paula Banks, a husband and wife who serve on the same council, based on a May 6, 2024 council meeting.

The Code of Conduct, a common fixture among municipalities, governs the conduct of elected officials. Among other things, it requires them to maintain a high standard of ethical behaviour, conduct themselves with decorum at public meetings, and to treat members of the public, one another, and staff appropriately and without abuse, bullying or intimidation.

According to the report from William R. Hunter, the Integrity Commissioner hired by the township to conduct the investigation, Councillor Jeff Banks did not breach the Code after asserting that a delegation from the Rideau Lakes Grassroots Group (RLGG) was “insignificant, immaterial and inappropriate.”

The commissioner said it was alleged that Banks had accused the group of a physical assault at an earlier council meeting, but said investigating that claim was outside his jurisdiction.

However, the same report found that Paula Banks, possibly in defence of her husband, did breach the Code of Conduct by using “extreme language” at a public council meeting in relation to alleged personal threats involving RLGG.

According to Mayor Hoogenboom, Banks uttered the words “hate group” during an open council debate over whether to let a RLGG delegation speak to council. The grassroots group had distributed a ‘blue flyer’ in August 2023 claiming tax dollars were being wasted and the economic health of the township was being ignored by certain councillors. If there was a concern for personal safety, the appropriate action was to involve the police, according to the commissioner’s finding.

“Councillor Paula Banks made a serious mistake by using such harsh language and referring to alleged personal threats. I find her in breach of the Code of Conduct,” said Commissioner Hunter’s report.

Hunter recommended that Banks, who was found to have broken the Code of Conduct from a separate investigation earlier this year, be docked 16 days’ pay.

The Integrity Commissioner also produced a report that probed the actions of Councillor Marcia Maxwell with respect to her involvement with the same blue flyer put out by RLGG.

The commissioner found that Maxwell had a hand in distributing the flyer, and that she “engaged in conduct that would bring the Municipality or Council into disrepute or compromise the integrity of the Municipality or council contrary to Sections 1.1 and 5.3 of the Code.”

The commissioner noted that: “Councillor Maxwell is involved in municipal matters and takes her responsibilities very seriously. That is what most ratepayers expect of their elected representatives. However, she made the mistake of supporting some extreme statements of the RLGG by being involved in the distribution of the “Blue Flyer” but has not repeated it.”

The Municipal Act allows a council to reprimand a councillor or dock their municipal pay for up to 90 days if the Code is breached.

The commissioner recommended Maxwell’s punishment is to be docked eight days’ pay.

But it’s up to council to determine whether to accept the commissioner’s recommendations and penalties.

The mayor says ongoing integrity probes – at least four of them in the past year – are costly to taxpayers, between $6,000 and $20,000 each, and the final bill for the latest investigations hasn’t been sent yet.

He says the investigations are the result of a “challenging” council term of political mistrust and infighting that is distracting from the business of the township. “It’s certainly taking away from what we should be focusing on in terms of priorities.”

Meanwhile, another recent integrity investigation into the conduct of Rideau Lakes Township Councillor Linda Carr is complete, but has not yet been made public.

The allegations against Carr aren’t known at this time, but the delay in releasing that report has prompted a stern warning from the Ontario Ombudsman.

“I write to strongly encourage council to comply with the Municipal Act. There are no exceptions or options available under the Municipal Act that would permit the withholding of the report,” said Ombudsman Paul Dube in his Oct. 3 letter to council.

Dube says provincial law does not allow any leeway for council to delay or deny making such a report public.

“While I recognize that council may be motivated to protect the reputation of a councillor against findings that council wishes to dispute, the object of the Municipal Act is to encourage transparency surrounding Integrity Commissioner reports.”

It’s unclear whether township council would deal with the integrity report recommendations involving Councillors Maxwell and Banks at their October 7 meeting.

But Mayor Hoogenboom says there is a motion on the floor at the same meeting to comply with the Ombudsman’s request to make the Councillor Carr report public by next week. He says any further delay could only deepen public mistrust of council.

Amidst the turmoil of the latest integrity reports, township council voted last month to terminate its contract with Integrity Commissioner William Hunter with three months’ notice. He’s the second commissioner hired by council in the last 18 months.

The mayor expects the search for a third commissioner to begin immediately.

Hoogenboom says there’s nothing wrong with asking for integrity probes, but he says this recent pattern is distracting council from doing what it was elected to do.

“I think the public is getting frustrated with all of us.”