The Town of Renfrew has docked a pair of councillors’ pay following reported breaches of their code of conduct back in September.
Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming deemed at a special meeting last week that comments made in a September 8th social media post from Kyle Cybulski that laid out concerns over several projects to be discussed in an upcoming meeting were meant to “provoke reaction and cast doubt on the integrity of staff and the corporation” and could be seen as disrespectful and malicious in nature.
In his report, Fleming says Cybulski’s acknowledgement that he was “walking the line” with his comments shows he was aware of how his comments could be interpreted as questioning the competence of the town’s consultants and staff, even if he didn’t name specific people, likening it to livestreaming an employee performance evaluation on Facebook or YouTube.
The Integrity Commissioner did note that the post correctly began by reiterating that Cybulski’s comments were his own opinion and the issues, which included the status of lights at the Ma-te-Way ball diamonds, the cost of recent work on Stevenson Crescent, and the closing of the Ma-te-Way Activity Centre investigation, had not been discussed at council at the time.
However, Fleming says that’s not enough, especially as Cybulski knowingly deviated from the council’s direction on language meant to be used in call communication around the MAC investigation.
Fleming also responded to a response to Cybulski’s post from fellow councillor Andrew Dick, which he says endorsed the offending comments while also accusing unnamed staff of interfering with the council’s ability to “change the world.”
The report suggested that Cybulski’s pay be suspended for 20 days and Dick’s for 15; however, council chose to lessen the punishment to 10 and 7 days, respectively. Those lost wages will be donated to charities of both councillors’ choosing.
(written by Kasey Egan)
