Oro-Medonte Township’s integrity commissioner (IC) is recommending a “formal reprimand“ of Coun. Cathy Keane.
In a damning 23-page report, the IC concludes that Keane made up a story after claims were made about her by the Horseshoe Valley Property Owners Association (HVPOA), then “ignored, deflected and misrepresented” herself during the course of their investigation.
Both are breaches of the township's code of conduct, the IC concluded.
The report will be tabled at Wednesday’s regular council meeting. At that meeting, township resident Paul Sanderson will ask council to demand Keane’s resignation.
“A reprimand or slap on the wrist as suggested by the integrity commissioner… is wholly inadequate,” Sanderson told OrilliaMatters.
He noted Keane “violated the Oro-Medonte Council Code of Conduct in a most dishonest manner and the sanctions must reflect the severity of her actions and be reflected by the consequences she deserves.”
Keane, when asked about the report and its findings, declined to comment. However, she said: “A number of questions and comments from the public, stemming from the integrity commissioner's report, will be answered at the meeting.”
The story is convoluted and bizarre.
The HVPOA made a formal complaint to the IC on Feb. 24, 2021. The group alleged Keane, “under cover of anonymity and without authority,” participated in and voted at their virtual annual general meeting on Feb. 3 even though she was not invited, is not a member of the organization and does not have voting rights.
Keane, they claimed, also obtained an unauthorized recording of the private meeting. The Ward 3 councillor then sent a letter to the HVPOA on Feb. 8, which the group says was “aggressive, accusatory and contained multiple false statements.”
In that letter, she also threatened to take the matter to council in an “effort to exert improper use of influence of her office,” noted the complaint.
Upon investigation, Keane was adamant that she did not attend the virtual meeting, even though her personal email account was later proven to be used to log in to the session.
The councillor insisted to the IC that she was provided with a link to the AGM, and subsequently a USB stick with the recording, by an ‘acquaintance/friend’ who was a member of the HPVOA.
She told the IC she would not “betray” the person who provided the recording.
Essentially, the IC did not believe her story.
“She told a compelling story, demonstrating her honourable desire to protect the identity of the ‘friend/acquaintance’, who was an innocent party and might not wish to have their identity revealed,” noted the IC’s report.
But “that story turned out not to be true.”
So, for the first time in the history of Principles Integrity — the company contracted by the township to serve as their integrity commissioner — a summons was issued to Keane, who was questioned again, under oath.
“Under oath, the councillor advised us that there never was a USB stick with a recording of the AGM, that there was no ‘friend/acquaintance’ who had provided it to her, and that her husband had recorded the AGM which she had viewed in the days that followed the meeting, on the family’s iPad.”
It was also determined it was her husband who voted during the meeting.
“We find that the councillor attempted to obfuscate and obstruct our investigation,” concludes the IC. “The ‘cover up’ of participation became the focus of her narrative, which we were then obligated to methodically untangle.”
The IC goes on to say Keane “intentionally misled us, gave two different accounts of how she was able to view the AGM, and resisted our attempts to corroborate her story. To justify having misled us, she explained that she did not want to get someone else in trouble; that she was confused; that she was distracted by other events in her life.”
Those all add up to a breach of the code of conduct, the report asserts.
Keane also breached the code with her threat, via letter to the HVPOA, the IC concludes.
In essence, the councillor’s letter accused the HVPOA of lying to its membership at the AGM. Her letter concludes: "I will be taking this matter to Council with a recommended action."
“It is fair to perceive this statement as a threat, although it is not entirely clear what is being threatened,” noted the IC’s report, adding “even an empty threat is a threat.”
Keane told the IC her goal about a “council action” was to have council direct township communications staff to provide more and better information publicly regarding the water and wastewater rate issue — an issue that has been divisive for decades and an issue, the IC concluded, was “peripheral” to their probe — to “counter any misunderstanding by residents of Horseshoe Valley.”
The HVPOA executive said it was "shocked" to receive Keane’s letter.
“Not only was the councillor an unauthorized interloper in the AGM, but her aggressive accusatory tone was in their view unsupported on the facts,” noted the IC report.
“It caused significant distress to the HVPOA executive to be accused of lying to their own membership, and to be threatened with the purported consequence of ‘council action.’
“We find that the councillor’s letter was aggressive and accusatory, and that it represented an effort to exert influence over the HVPOA executive,” concludes the IC report.
It should be noted that Keane initially received the invitation to the HVPOA meeting, via email, from Mayor Harry Hughes, who forwarded it to Keane after it was forwarded to him by his son, who is a member of the HVPOA.
The IC spoke with Hughes about this and he stated it was common practice for him to forward such emails to councillors.
Sanderson feels the mayor’s role makes him "complicit and culpable" in this controversy and is also calling on him to resign.
And, it’s why he is formally calling on council to launch an independent judicial inquiry of the matter.
In an emailed statement, the HVPOA board of directors thanked Principles Integrity for their “thorough investigation.”
And while the board accepts the report, they “remain disappointed in learning of the continued dishonest behaviour of Coun. Keane during the investigation.”
Council will determine what action to take, if any, at its meeting Wednesday.
