Cornwall Ontario – Holy Paul Fitzpatrick! In what seems to be a chapter out of the ol Kilger council, rookie councilor Justin Towndale went public on his social media page with a statement claiming that council was left out of the loop of the Human Rights Tribunal Case of Nekkid Boobies.
As many of you are now aware, the City is the subject of a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario complaint, along with a number of other defendants. All of this has been reported in the Standard-Freeholder recently, and is public knowledge.
I can’t comment directly on the issue, as it is before the Tribunal and it is a legal case.
However, I do want to comment on how I feel that Council was kept in the dark about this, and how information was withheld from us. I think its important that the public know.
I first found about the complaint by accident on June 6th, when Council received an email about the complaint from a law firm representing one of the other defendants. When any party submits anything pertaining to a complaint to the HRTO, all other parties involved have to receive a copy. A few other emails were sent at this time as well, including one which confirmed that the City had asked for an extension on May 30th.
I waited until June 8th to see if we’d receive anything substantial, ie an email from administration explaining the issue, or a copy of the complaint, etc. Nothing was forthcoming, so I sent an email that evening to the CAO asking point blank if the City was the subject of a complaint, asking when the complaint was filed, and why it was not on our agenda for our June 12th Council Meeting.
The next afternoon, on June 9th, I received a reply from a division manager confirming that we were the subject of a complaint, and that our legal counsel had been engaged. I had to follow up to the CAO for answers to the rest of my questions. I received a reply on June 12th. I was shocked to find out that the City was notified on May 11th, almost a full month before. In addition, I was surprised to find out that our CAO was only informed on June 8th.
The item eventually made its way to the June 26th agenda. This would be 6.5 weeks after the City was notified. Even then, at that meeting we were still not provided with a copy of the complaint, and I had to ask for one. Apparently, the rational for not providing it to us, is that it is 50 pages, and in French. When I asked for it, some thought it was ridiculous that I would want to read it. But how can we make a decision about a legal matter without first reading the initial complaint? In addition, it is our jobs as Councillors to ensure that we are well versed on items such as these. And yes, I have read the complaint in its entirety. Some of my colleagues have opted not to. In either case, it should have been provided to us.
I’m told that the information wasn’t ‘intentionally’ withheld from us, but I can’t see why it took so long to get to us. I’m also not clear on who first engaged our legal counsel and asked for an extension prior to May 30th if the CAO only found out on June 8th.
Right now, the City is going to be shouldering legal costs related to this complaint. The longer it takes, its possible that our bills will be higher. If it had come sooner, its possible that a decision could have been made sooner and our bills could have been that much cheaper. I can’t say this definitely, but it’s a possibility.
Council is essentially the Board of Directors for the Corporation of the City of Cornwall. If this had been a private company, you can be assured the Board there would have been notified immediately. Yet, this is seldom the case with us. In some cases, we are the last to know. The Freon leak at the Aquatic Centre and results of arbitration with the Fire Department are two cases where the media knew information before Council did. There are other examples as well. To say that it is frustrating is an understatement.
As some of you will recall, last year I put forward a motion to ensure that information was passed along to Council in a timely manner. The motion was defeated with some claiming it was ‘micromanaging’, which it was not. (Ironically, immediately after, Council passed a motion instructing staff, grown adults, how to answer the phone. That is the very definition of micromanagement.) We were assured that there is no problem with information getting to us. However, this is just the latest in a number of instances where information hasn’t come through. It can be denied, but information is definitely being withheld, and it is preventing us from doing our jobs effectively. This has to change.
Now this writer has been holding the rookie accountable since he seemed to be using his office for his personal gain and doing his best Bernie Clement hiding impression, but he gets full kudos for playing the game right.
The public should know if there’s a problem at City Hall.
One councilor spoke off the record stating that they’d “given up” on this council as nothing can get done because of internal idiocy and heavy handed abuse by city management.
Clearly council needs to be up to date on all issues, especially one that could cost the city an awful lot of tax cash in legal bills to its out of town lawyers.
There is a slate of candidates forming that realize that Cornwall may need a draining the swamp like another Ontario did in firing over 20 of its managers.
This reminds this writer of the Chem tanks when we saw some really bad theatre by former Mayor Bob Kilger who was caught lying about when he was aware of the tanks.
The city is now facing a waterfront crisis with little to no answer to the public.
And there’s still been no answer from Ms Adams about who put an item on a council agenda about nuclear waste although there is a direct connection between Bruce Power and current HR manager Geoff Clarke. Of course Ms Adams is also refusing to answer where she was based when she worked in the auto industry at the same time as Mr. Clarke who worked for Volvo before leaving his gig as VP at Bruce Power to become HR honcho for Cornwall.
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Pretty bad when one councillor says they’ve given up because of idiocy and abuse by city management.
I still don’t understand how this woman can include Cornwall in the HRT case if she wasn’t denied her right to go topless here. Getting info by phone/e mail to add litigants to a case is an abuse of our supposed justice system.
Hugger it’s not that easy to get a case to the point where it is. While it may be dismissed to some degree, especially if there’s mitigation, clearly whoever filed this case has made a point. It’s interesting how most of those complained about are in our neck of the woods….
I agree to a point. But using phone calls or email to pick your HRT litigants seems a severe abuse of our justice system.
Hugger, I’m not a lawyer, but I think that’s standard when profiling a complaint of this nature and builds up the case. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out this person is well lawyered up.
It’s no secret there is more to Adam’s and Clarke, it’s spoken everywhere in the hall and most likely by now other places too. Who do you think is CAO when she is not around? Council knows what is going on but Mr. Mayor has shut Council down because he knows exactly what is happening. The Mayor, GM’s, Adams and Clarke, your s*it stinks, stop thinking you better then all. Employees see the act.
And if anyone thought this Mayor was better then the previous, guess what? wrong, as hard as it is to believe, he is one angry ass. GM’s who are so full of themselves, one for Eco Development yet no development, one who believes bike awards are more important then working, one with transit and backwards thinking, and one who saw it all and left for Ottawa. The CAO should be fired.
I agree with your latest comments. But it still disgusts me that it is so easy to file a HRT complaint simply by getting info by tor email. IMHO it looks like she wants an easy payday and chooses her victims this way. I notice that she went after only orgs in this region. Perhaps she sees it as easy pickings and a quick easy payout for her. Disgusting.
In all the HRT cases I’ve seen before it’s always been when a person’s rights were violated, etc. In this case it seems it’s about IF a person’s rights might be violated. There is a big difference. Hopefully the city does the right thing and changes it policy so this nonsense and potential farcical HRT complaint can be stopped before it goes much further.
This is sick, really sick. There are huge differences between men and women naked or clothed and Cornwall has literally gone straight down to hell. Oh My God I would never put my feet there ever again. That is Satans Kingdom of Hell.
Hugger if you’ve read other media, and I know you do, then some of her complaint has been shared. If you ask a direct question and get a direct answer that is provable then you have grounds.
Not quite Jules 🙂
If the councillor mentioned in this article has “given up”… then maybe he/she can now “give out” …A little bit of solid information would be more helpful than vagueries and innuendo.
How are residents of Cornwall supposed to target, investigate and expose our petty crooks if we don’t know who they are and how we’ve been wronged?
That was my point to them Simon. Exactly. If you want to break up some logjams at City Hall expose some of the odd comments and decisions by some of those elected. Let the public know how putrid some of them are.
The story is in the Star today. Ramada Inn among others are part of the Human Rights filing. Since being named the Ramada has changed its policy and longer restricts or discriminates against female breast exposure. The city is appparently deciding weither to defend or rescind its position on frontal female nudity in public.
Council in 1996 decided to implement a local policy which apparently violates the courts decision handed down 20 years ago that restricting female frontal (chest) nudity was discriminatory. Could be time for Cornwall citizens to pay up once again because of our leaderships inability to comprehend reality.
Is it just me or are Canadians becoming like Americans? We’ve become a lawsuit crazy society. Being able to sue someone or launch a HRT complaint based on a phone call or email correspondence is just wrong. IMHO to justify a HRT complaint you MUST be able to prove that your rights have been violated. A potential for rights violation is NOT grounds for a HRT complaint and huge payout. Arrggghhh!!!
Hugger she did that. The law has been in place since 96 and she confirmed the policy or law of those sued. She’s using a law firm. Either they smell money or she has money.
She’s made her point. I’m trying to track her down to interview her.
OMG we are going to have to get Cornwalls insignia off the car before there is any more laughter in this city about the insanity going on down there. Mrs. Adams left TO for Cornwall is a real shame and a downgrade to the bottom. I am laughing and shaking my head here at the same time. If women went topless there would be more accidents and rapes that cops could never handle nor the insurance Co
The question being, should CAO Adams get fired for this… simple answer, YES she should and others should get fired too. What a disgrace this city administration and city council. So pathetic. Never seen the likes of this.