Integrity commissioner finds County Councillor violated code of conduct

Jeff Green | Jan 15, 2020

After investigating complaints from ferry operators, Frontenac County integrity officer, Laura Dean, concluded that Councillor Bruce Higgs has breached the code of conduct for members of municipal councils.

The code, which is part of the Ontario Municipal Act, restricts how members of municipal councils interact with municipal staff who are carrying out their day to day duties.

Higgs violated the code on at least two occasions, Dean concluded, but she did not recommend that he be penalised. The only prescribed remediation is that he must issue a written statement and read it at a meeting of council. The statement must demonstrate his understanding that he “does not have the authority to independently engage in operational or procurement issues in the county, including with respect to the ferry,” according to Dean’s report.

The entire matter stemmed from an unusual circumstance on July 12, when Higgs learned that because the ferry operator, who was assigned to the shift, had called in to say he could not cover the shift because of vehicle problems, and with no other operator being available, the ferry had shut down.

Councillor Higgs obtained the phone number of the staff member who was absent, and phoned him, “purportedly to offer assistance to enable the operator to attend his shift” Dean wrote.

This was a breach of the code of conduct, specifically section 5.1 (e) which says that members of municipal council will “respect to the administrative and managerial chain of command by (ii) giving direction to staff only as council and through the CAO [Chief Administrative Officer] and (iii) refraining from becoming involved in the management of staff.

This incident was reported to the county soon after it took place and the county manager of legislative services, Janette Amini, contacted Councillor Higgs about the breach and delivered a memorandum to him about it.

“We understand that Councillor Higgs expressed regret and assured county staff that he understood.”

The matter may have ended at that point, avoiding an integrity commissioner investigation, but for some further events.

In mid-September, Councillor Higgs, who is the Frontenac County Council liaison to the county’s emergency and transportation department, attended the Canadian Ferry Association conference in St. John, New Brunswick.

At that conference, Higgs spoke to some people in the ferry industry, and one of them talked to him about drive systems, which determine how fast a ferry can travel. He also talked to someone about how the ferry hits the dock when it arrives and departs, and the person had ideas how to fix the problem but needed a photograph of the drive wheel.

On September 19, the county and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) received an unsolicited email from a marine company “following up on discussions about potential improvements to the ferry”.

On September 20, Higgs went to the ferry docks and asked a ferry crew member to remove the safety guard covering the ferry’s drive wheel in order to get a picture. The ferry crew member, who has since resigned, alleged that at that time Higgs misrepresented himself as “either a marine engineer, and MTO employee, or both”, according to a formal complaint, which triggered the integrity commissioner investigation.

Investigator Dean concluded that Councillor Higgs contravened three separate sections of the code of conduct, for intervening in operational and procurement matters.

Dean said that it does not appear that Higgs did so “with any malicious intent but his actions, …, created a clear safety risk and had the potential to undermine or even jeapordize staff’s working relationship with the MTO with respect to procurement matters.”

She concludes her report by saying that while Higgs will not be penalised in this case, “any future code violations of this nature by him may warrant the imposition of a penalty.”

Bruce Higgs, a first term municipal politician, is the deputy mayor of Frontenac Islands by virtue of receiving the highest number of votes to council, on the island where the sitting mayor, Dennis Doyle, does not reside. As deputy mayor, Higgs was appointed as one of two Frontenac Islands representatives to Frontenac County Council.

The Howe Island Ferry is operated by Frontenac County under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. There has been some controversy surrounding the operation in the last 15 months or so. Howe Island residents complained last year, when the county ended a prohibition on farm vehicles using the ferry during the morning rush hour. A lawsuit has been filed by disgruntled Howe Islanders against Frontenac County. Then in July, the ferry did not operate during one shift, in the incident that led to Councillor Higgs issues with the code of conduct.