Coun. Sergio Morales should be reprimanded and apologize for his comments to Coun. Keenan Aylwin last summer, says Barrie’s integrity commissioner.
City council will deal with Suzanne Craig’s recommendation at its Monday night meeting.
She has determined that Morales’ comments to Aylwin (although he is not named in Craig’s nine-page report) contravened Barrie’s Code of Conduct, an agreed-upon understanding by all members of council about what standards they should meet in the individual conduct of their official duties.
“I find that, the respondent’s comments such as, '(I) am living in fear of (the councillor) attacking me', '(the councillor) pouts when he doesn’t get his way', 'your comments detract away from the great potential (the complainant) has' and '(the councillor) is not a leader', are comments that the respondent ought to have known to be offensive,” Craig wrote in her report, dated March 15.
The report identifies Morales as the respondent and published stories in BarrieToday identify Aylwin as the complainant.
Aylwin declined comment Friday morning when contacted by BarrieToday.
“I have been advised by the integrity commissioner to not make a comment until this issue is actually before council,” he said.
Craig’s advice was “to ensure the integrity of the process and in an effort to not fetter the decision of council, you should refrain from making any comments about the matter until you are at the council table.”
Morales could not be reached for comment Friday morning by BarrieToday.
Barrie Mayor Lehman made it clear Friday where he stood on this matter.
“My only comment at this point would be that, as I have said for many years, the strength of the integrity commissioner process is that it’s independent and non-political, and as such in my opinion, council would need an extraordinary reason to do anything other than accept her reports and findings,” he said.
“The point of independent officers is to establish facts and for the (integrity commissioner), determine compliance with the Code of Conduct and the implications of breaching it,” Lehman said. “That should never be a political process.”
Craig recommended that in addition to a reprimand penalty, Morales would have to write an apology to Aylwin acknowledging and recognizing that calling out Aylwin and publicly saying the Ward 2 councillor is not a leader, along with other disparaging comments, was not in compliance with the Code of Conduct. The apology would have to be given to Craig within five days of council’s decision on this matter.
A reprimand is a penalty under the Municipal Act, a strongly worded condemnation of a member of council.
Morales would also have to recognize that personal attacks against members of council are not permitted by the code.
The comments Craig referred to in her report come from an Aug. 10 city council meeting, and a direct motion that city staff meet with Shak’s World to identify opportunities including leasing the former City of Barrie Youth Centre at 59A Maple Ave., as well as city facilities, to host its proposed programming and its prepared business plan, and report back to councillors on Sept. 14, 2020.
Lehman took a vote to waive the rules of procedure so that councillors could hear a presentation by Shak’s World prior to a motion without notice and the direct motion being considered. Shak’s World focuses on community and the well-being of youth through basketball. The local non-profit group was searching for facility space, and was before council asking for $42,000 to rent it.
But because Shak’s World had not completed many of the requirements that grant proponents are required to fulfil, the waiver motion was lost.
It was Aylwin’s comments about systemic racism that led to the exchange with Morales.
“That could be a corporation. It could be a schooling system. It could be a municipal government. Sometimes systemic racism isn’t obvious to those on the outside looking in, especially those who are privileged by the system,” said Aylwin, as reported by BarrieToday at the time.
“Mayor Lehman, Coun. Aylwin is implying that council is being racist to Shak. This is ridiculous,” Morales said at that meeting.
Lehman responded saying he didn’t hear a councillor accuse council of being racist, and tried to turn the conversation back to the motion on the floor, BarrieToday reported.
“Very obviously there’s a misunderstanding of what systemic racism is,” Aylwin said.
Craig said Aylwin’s comments were about process, however, not people.
“Based on my discussions with individuals, including the complainant, it was not the intention of the complainant to suggest that members of council planning committee members were racist,” she said in her report. “His comments were levelled at the inherent systemic inequities of the decision-making process of the committee, and not at the members who make up the committee.”
She did find that Morales’ comments were directed at Aylwin.
“The complainant was incorrect in defining the committee’s August decision to defer approval of the grant to the proponent (Shak’s World) as based on inappropriate motives," Craig wrote in her report. “However, the complainant’s comments do not justify or exonerate the respondent from his ethical responsibilities to refrain from insulting and offending a council colleague.”
In the summer of 2019, city council reprimanded Aylwin about a controversial Facebook post made in March 2019, which was directed at Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard and former Barrie-Springwater-Oro-
And in early 2020, Aylwin was cleared by Craig of breaking conflict-of-interest rules. The complaint against Aylwin questioned whether he should be participating in discussions and voting on matters involving downtown Barrie that have a direct effect on a family member.
City council’s virtual meeting on Monday, March 22 is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
