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City cleared in closed meeting report
CRIME SCENE
Drug charges A 44-year-old Cornwall man faces charges after a drug raid by police at a Pitt Street residence on May 1. The raid was executed just before 7 p.m. by members of the Cornwall Com- munity Police Service Criminal Investiga- tion Branch, Street Crime Unit and Emer- gency Response Team. Police seized a quantity of what was believed to be Hydromorphone and co- caine. The total amount of property and drug seized was estimated at $250. Kenneth Youngs is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance. He was released to appear in court on June 20. Robbed acquaintance A 20-year-old Cornwall man faces charg- es after he was accused of robbing and assaulting an 18-year-old acquaintance on April 24. Daniel Delage, 20 of Cornwall was ar- rested on April 30 and charged with rob- bery and uttering death threats. The vic- tim did not require medical treatment. Delage was released to appear in court on June 4. Scamming grandma A 21-year-old Cornwall man is being ac- cused of cashing in at the expense of his 62-year-old grandmother. Cornwall police allege that on April 20 , he stole cheques from his grandmother and deposited several cheques fraudu- lently between April 22 and April 24 He is charged with theft under $5,000, breach of a probation order, attempting to commit fraud, two counts of fraud under $5,000 and five counts of uttering forged documents. He was arrested on April 29 and was re- leased to appear in court on June 4. His name was not released as it would iden- tify the victim. Real steal Two Cornwall men were arrested on April 29, after they were accused of stealing steel items from a Second Street West property. Michel Leblanc, 44, is charged with theft under $5,000. Jody Burgess, 44, is charged with theft under $5,000 and breach of a probation order They were both released to appear in A South Dundas teen has been charged after he was accused of assaulting a fe- male on Thursday. SD&G OPP officers responded to a re- port of the assault on Shannette Road in South Dundas around 5 p.m. The 18-yearr-old male was arrested and faces a charge of assault. He is scheduled to appear in Morrisburg court June 11. MORE CRIME NEWS ON PAGE 5 court on June 4 th , 2013. Teen charged
Whistleblower responds to report
GREG KIELEC greg.kielec@eap.on.ca
The following statement was issued by Cornwall whistleblower Diane Shay in re- sponse to the Fournier report. As the public are aware, the City was con- victed for illegal retaliation against me in October 2011 in relation to resident abuse at the Lodge. The City Council was then investigating for answers as to why the three members of senior management of the City had par- ticipated in illegal retaliation, causing legal defence costs of $200,000 and payment of a fine. As Mr. Fournier’s report reveals, during the course of Council seeking answers, two whistleblower complaints (one of which was mine) were filed directly to Council. Every aspect of the whistleblower complaints was withheld from the public. Since the public were not noti- fied, the employees of the City were also not made aware. The decision of City Council to not tell the public anything about the complaints, and todeal in camerawith everything about the complaints (including their existence) was entirely discretionary. Total secrecy was not mandatory, as Mr. Fournier has found. City Council withheld all information from the public. Mr. Fournier has only limited powers of recommendation, but he recommends that Council consider that the public had the right to know or at least receive some form of notice about a whistleblower com- watts per month will see its monthly invoice increase by $2.52. Pescod attributed the increase to the long-term wholesale electricity supply con- tracts with Hydro Quebec. “Like all other utilities in Ontario, the wholesale cost of electricity in Cornwall is passed through to customers.’ “The long term contracts with Hydro Que- bec provide security of supply and rate sta- bility to December 2019,” said Pescod. “Cornwall Electric rates continue to com- ated with the low-level bridge project, the city is warning motorists. Through traffic will be detoured via Cum- berland Street and Second Street during the work period. The area will remain open to local traffic only for resident’s access to properties within the closure area, where construction activities permit. The section of the recreational path near the bridge construction site is expected to remain open during this period, but could change subject to construction activities.
plaint being under investigation. The information that is revealed within Mr. Fournier’s report could have been made available to the public, as it was hap- pening. As the reports verify, both whis- tleblowers asked City Council on July 30, 2012 to amend the whistleblower policy to notify the employees about the inves- tigation and appointment of investigators, and to put witness protection protocols into place, along with staff training. Also
The city was right to conduct discussions about two whistleblower cases behind closed doors, the city’s closed meeting in- vestigator has ruled. Stephen Fournier made the ruling in a re- port to be presented during a special public meeting of city council on May 7. “It is the investigator’s opinion that council’s actions to preserve the confidentiality of the pro- cess were warranted in this case.” But Fournier also ruled that the city was too vague in its description of the issue is used to warrant discussing the whistle- blower issues in closed session. “In the opinion of the investigator, the term “personnel matters” it is so broad that it lacks the general degree of specific- ity contemplated under the procedural re- quirements of Section 239 of the Act .” He suggests future agendas of closed sessions dealing with whistleblower com- plaints actually note that council note in its resolution that it is move in-camera to discuss a “confidential report relating to the city’s whistleblower policy.” “The confidential report/discussion was often referred to as a Confidential (Report)- Personnel Matter(s) in the resolutions of the open council meeting to move in camera . “The matters that were discussed in the closed sessions from June11, 2012 to Febru- ary 19, 2013, and the grounds cited for do- ing so were appropriate under Section 239 of the Act ,” wrote Fournier in the conclusion of his report.
in July both Whistleblowers waived the need to keep their identity anonymous so that employees could be notified. It would have enhanced the investigation process, if the public were aware of the ex- istence of investigations and could supervise Council’s ac- tions. The public could have questioned the powers (or lack thereof) of the investigators,
Diane Shay
and could have monitored to ensure there were no more allegations of retaliation against these or other employees of the City. If there had been public notification, City employees would have felt the pro- tection of City Council and the public for the purposes of giving their evidence in such difficult circumstances. This is the second report of Mr. Fournier in relation to closed meetings of Council following the conviction of the City for il- legal retaliation in October 2011. Answers pertaining to that conviction have still not beenprovided to the public by City Council. pare favorably to surrounding electrical utilities,” he added One silver lining in the rate increase is that eligible Cornwall Electric residential and small business customers will continue to receive the Ontario Clean Energy Ben- efit that will save customers 10 per cent on electricity costs. Pescod also is reminding customers that Cornwall Electric customers are not subject to the debt retirement charge that users of Ontario Hydro must pay.
Cornwall Electric rates increasing 2.56% in July GREG KIELEC GREG.KIELEC@EAP.ON.CA
Just weeks after city residents learned their taxes are going up 2.88 per cent this year, Cornwall Electric has announced their electricity rates will be increasing as well. Rates will increase 2.56% on July 1, ac- cording to Michael Pescod, regional man- ager of Cornwall Electric. A residential customer using 800 kilo-
Brookdale south to Water Street closed for four months GREG KIELEC GREG.KIELEC@EAP.ON.CA
Motorists accustomed to taking that long curve connectingWater Street and Brook- dale Avenue will have to find an alternate route beginning Monday. A section of Brookdale Avenue south of Second Street and Water Street west of Cumberland Street will be closed to through traffic for approximately four months be- ginning Monday, to complete work associ-
The above graphic provided by the City shows the summer detour at the south end of Brookdale toWater Street.
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