The Owen Sound Sun Times e-edition

Calls for resignation follow integrity commissioner's report

ROB GOWAN

An integrity commissioner's report about Grey County Deputy-warden Paul Mcqueen's participation in two meetings at the same time led to calls for Mcqueen's resignation by some around the Grey County council table Thursday.

And in a meeting that was recessed by Warden Selwyn Hicks mid-debate after one councillor posed a question to two others over a comment made prior to the meeting, the public's trust in elected officials was also called into question.

Council eventually voted to receive the report from its integrity commissioner and directed staff to bring recommendations forward around revising its code of conduct for attending multiple meetings at once. A separate motion to reprimand Mcqueen was defeated in a weighted 63-22 vote of council. Only Owen Sound Deputy-mayor Brian O'leary, Owen Sound Coun. Richard Thomas, Southgate Mayor John Woodbury and Southgate Deputy-mayor Brian Milne voted in favour of reprimanding Mcqueen, who is the mayor of Grey Highlands. Thursday's agenda included a report from Principles Integrity that laid out the complaint filed by O'leary against Mcqueen on March 21. Jeff Abrams of Principles Integrity summarized the complaint, which was in relation to a March 17 meeting in which Mcqueen appeared to be participating simultaneously in two electronic meetings – one for the county's Affordable Housing Task Force and the other for the Niagara Escarpment Commission.

While the integrity commissioner's investigation found that Mcqueen had “attended” multiple meetings at the same time in the past and had been paid for them, in the case of the March 17 meeting Mcqueen e-mailed NEC staff the next morning to decline the per diem for that meeting.

According to the commissioner's report, Mcqueen asked to hand off the role of chair of the March 17 meeting to the warden, and was advised he could hand it off to the vice-chair, which was Dwight Burley. Mcqueen confirmed on Thursday that he handed off the meeting because he was feeling unwell.

But some participants in the Affordable Housing Task Force meeting noticed Mcqueen was turning off his camera “for short periods of time.” He was asked directly if he was participating in another meeting and during the exchange, voices from another device could be heard when Mcqueen unmuted to speak, according to the report. O'leary said the incident was very distracting. It was alleged the conduct contravened the council code of conduct for Grey County and Grey Highlands.

In his report, Abrams concluded that Mcqueen had participated in two meetings simultaneously, which they found “fails to meet the standard expected of participating diligently.”

“We find that Mayor Mcqueen failed to meet the ethical standards of diligent participation on the occasions when he participated simultaneously in virtual meetings which were proceeding concurrently,” the report found. “We find that claiming and accepting multiple per diems under such circumstances raises an ethical concern.”

“We also observe that, when asked directly about whether he was participating in another meeting on March 17, 2022, he appeared to be less than forthcoming,” the report stated. “It is an open question whether his decision to decline the NEC per diem on March 18 flowed from the fact of being `called out' at the conclusion of the meeting.”

Abrams said council had the option to reprimand Mcqueen or suspend his pay for up to 90 days, but neither were recommended.

He said that through the investigation Mcqueen had demonstrated his intention to more diligently manage his practice of claiming per diems and the likelihood of repetition will disappear as Grey Highlands moves toward salaries and away from per diems for council compensation.

Mcqueen, who was attending Thursday's meeting remotely while on his way to Parry Sound for an Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting, read a statement in which he said that scheduling conflicts sometimes happen with the numerous committees he is a part of, along with the time commitments of his family beef farming business.

He apologized for the meeting conflicts that have been brought on by the move to remote meetings via Zoom, which have become common since the start of the COVID -19 pandemic.

“I can assure you that my integrity is still intact and my target to attend all meetings scheduled for me involve slipping in and out of a few meetings. This is only possible because of Zoom,” Mcqueen said. “I have not received more remuneration than I am entitled to and I agree with the integrity commission's comments that sanctions are not warranted.”

O'leary then claimed that Mcqueen removed himself as the chair of the county committee meeting because he was in another meeting, not because of Mcqueen's claim that he was feeling unwell.

“That was untruthful. That is not why you removed yourself from the chair,” O'leary said.

But Mcqueen stood by his claim that he removed himself as chair because he wasn't feeling well.

O'leary then questioned Mcqueen's decision to contact NEC staff “right away” to make sure he wasn't getting the per diem.

“I didn't feel it is right that I was not feeling well and I was part of the other meeting,” Mcqueen said.

He added that in the other instances where he attended multiple meetings on the same day, the timing of those meetings allowed him to take part in both.

When O'leary asked Abrams to respond to the matter, Abrams said the discussion had “taken a bit of turn.”

“This of course is not a hearing. There shouldn't be cross examination or testimony,” Abrams said.

Woodbury called the talk of meeting scheduling “a red herring,” and said “if you have got way too many meetings that run at the same time, then you as an individual have participated in too many things.”

Milne said all councillors are busy and “any thinking person would suggest that you cannot participate in two meetings at the same time and make a meaningful contribution to both. You need to pick one or the other.”

Thomas said the issue for him was the “attempt to conceal the fact from everyone else that two meetings were being attended at the same time.”

Thomas said Mcqueen's actions “reflects on all of us” and affects public confidence in elected officials. He called the actions disrespectful and said he would like to see sanctions from council.

O'leary said he didn't want to go to the integrity commissioner, but did so when it was obvious Mcqueen was in another meeting and wouldn't answer when asked if it was the case. O'leary said Mcqueen should at least resign as deputy warden of the county.

Mcqueen said he is not perfect and there is an expectation of the public of how councillors represent themselves, but he said he felt like he was being personally attacked.

“I have made changes that I will not be anywhere near a second meeting during another meeting, even if it is being called upon,” Mcqueen said.

“I take my job very serious. I have been doing this for 25 years and I feel I have been a great councillor.”

Thomas moved that council receive the report, issue a reprimand to Mcqueen and directed staff to bring back recommendations on policy changes.

Following the move, The Blue Mountains Mayor Alar Soever then said he overheard part of a conversation between Milne and O'leary prior to Thursday's meeting.

“I heard only part of it and the part I heard was something about, let him do the dirty work,” said Soever. “I am just asking the two gentlemen, did I hear that correctly and was this in regards to the issue we are deciding today?”

The question then led the warden to call a recess for guidance from staff. When council returned 10 minutes later, Hicks ruled that the question was not “germane to the motion we are debating” and didn't allow it to be asked.

Soever challenged Hicks' ruling, but his challenge was defeated 6718 in a recorded vote.

Thomas' original motion was then broken into two motions. Council voted in favour of receiving the integrity commissioners' report and have staff prepare recommendations on policy changes, but the motion to reprimand Mcqueen was defeated.

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2022-06-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

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