Here is My Speech in Defense of the Integrity Commissioners Report during the July 19th Meeting.
Council Colleagues- I am not sure if the Mayor or even the Deputy mayor should be chairing this file as the Mayor’s complaint against me said “ Thanks Bob for hearing me out, The info I’m sharing with you can be confirmed by our Deputy Mayor Richard Meloche.”
Do we want to let Councillor Bowman our county council alternate chair this portion of the meeting to ensure there is no bias?
It is true, I am critical of ELK, its service delivery model and its Board of Directors. In my opinion, I am in no way contravening the Code of Conduct. I was critical of the operations before, during and after being a board member. Both the Town of Kingsville and the Town of Lakeshore have hosted ELK as a delegate at their council meetings and both councils were critical of ELK as well. I have posted summaries of those recent meetings on my website- sherrybondy.com I am also critical of Hydro One, and also recently got support of my fellow councillors to send a letter to Hydro one stating concerns, that letter is on my website as well.
In reference to the time frame when the meme was posted, I did learn that the power outage which is referenced was in Hydro One territory and caused by farm equipment damaging a Guy Wire. Please see the post on my social media dated March 27th. I knew that the outage this time was NOT caused by any fault of ELK energy. I have also equally questioned Hydro One over the years.
Where it is true I recorded a video outside the ELK office, which is not a secret location and I shared my frustrations and resident frustrations with the ongoing power outages. The town is the sole shareholder of ELK and we do not know what the value of ELK is, which is what I was asking in my video to board members.
A report on a recent council agenda passed with majority support of council, asking the ELK board to hire a consultant to see what the taxpayers of Essex really own. Go to our May 3rd meeting and you can see the discussion at Essex Council. We talk about the report at the 9 minute mark.
It is also true that I posted on my social media a picture that was sent to me about how the candles don’t want fresh new ideas and full transparency of a bright new lightbulb, ( as the sender suggested) and I posted it on my social media. I found the storyline from the sender and the picture of me being silenced by the old way of thinking very provocative. The irony of this picture being used as a way to silence me for the poor service from E.L.K. is uncanny. I asked the IC if he wanted a signed affidavit to these FACTS . As to the person who claimed to be the artist, I suggest you speak with them as to how they perceive their work. Mr. Swayze did not ask for such a signed affidavit- why not?
In response to that lets look at the Code of Conduct:
9.03 Discreditable Conduct
All Members have a duty to treat members of the public, one another, committee and board members and staff appropriately and without abuse, bullying or intimidation, and to ensure that the work environment is free from discrimination and harassment. A Member shall not use indecent, abusive or insulting words or expressions toward any other Member, an employee or any member of the public and shall not speak in a manner that is discriminatory to any individual based on that person’s race, ancestry, place of origin, creed, gender, sexual orientation, age, colour, marital status or disability.
Which clearly hasn’t happened unless you “deem” that I am being critical of bad service by a corporation that does business with the Town of Essex “Discreditable Conduct”. If Staples sells the Town of Essex pens without ink in them and tries to say it’s not their fault the pens have no ink I’m going to be just as critical. I ask, will that too be “deemed” Discreditable Conduct? If you do “deem” this unacceptable conduct I do look forward to your recommendations as to how me and any other Member of Essex Council is to respond when a pickup truck purchased shows up without a steering wheel and we are asked by residents “why do we now own such a thing?”.
At the April 19th council meeting, I entered a Notice of Motion about Safe and Reliable Supply of Electricity from Hydro One Moved by Councillor Bondy Seconded by ________________ That Essex Council send a letter to Hydro One to let them know of the concerns we have in our municipality of frequent power outages that are negatively impacting both our residential homes and businesses, the Mayor also harassed me publicly at the 152 minute mark. I believe the Mayor’s continued harassment of me is creating a toxic workplace. It is a huge distraction for fellow councillors and staff who just want to go to council and get work done. It seems that those who are trying to ask questions get bullied.
Mayor Snively had sent you a laundry list of items and the best I can tell he sent it in the hopes one of these ideas stick with you. As I see by this complaint one was found. By attempting to tie two things together that don’t belong together.
It is true, Elk did ask to me to step down due to my line of questioning and sent me a letter in 2019 stating
“If you wish to be a public critic of E.L.K. you must first, however, resign from your position as an E.L.K. director.”
Mr. Swayze somehow forgot to mention that part of the letter. As someone who chose to continue to be critical of E.L.K. I took the only option given.
During my time on the ELK Board, I asked about a Code of Conduct for the ELK board, there was not one. I asked for this due to treatment of me by the Mayor during those meetings. More than once he raised his voice and pointed his finger while I was asking questions.
I always remember that the Town of Essex is the sole shareholder of the company. That is the reason I am so critical. I have a fiduciary responsibility as a Councillor and when I was on the Board to move the company in a direction for 200 year viability. That is the company’s fiduciary duty to the shareholders. Again, let’s not forget the residents of Essex are the purchasers of the shares through taxes. If we don’t invest in infrastructure our return on investment to the shareholders will diminish until what little assets are left
Yes, this thinking, out of the box has put me at odds with those who like to see everything at ELK remains the same. As you can appreciate those whose light bulb shines bright will never be in harmony with those that wish to light by candle. A very interesting chain of events. I can agree there is some merit about ELK not appreciating my list of items. They may believe that I’m soliciting a list but when a resident reaches out to me I prefer to respond than do nothing.
Mr. Swayze, the mayor, is asking you to validate his unsubstantiated claims. I believe there is a Law against that. Mr. Swazey I am ready, willing and able to sit down and discuss with you and any of the people Mr.Snively is claiming I’ve offended. If necessary, I can work with a third party to protect these claimants’ anonymity.
Mr. Snively also said “I sit on county council every Mayor and Deputy Mayor say to me you have a huge problem.”
Can we also get a list of the author of these statements assuming the huge problem is me and not his leadership? I ask you Mr. Swayze again. Why is Mr. Snively’s school hall bully whispering even an item here? I expect you to have a comment about this type of behaviour in your report as well.
Mr. Snively’s reason for contacting you is based on lies, innuendos and unsubstantiated versions of Mr. Snively’s imagination. In fact his complaint lacked the necessary information filled out according to our Code of Conduct that “ A complaint shall include: an explanation, with specific reference to sections of the code as to why the issue raised is alleged to be a contravention of the Code. Mr. Snively wrote Various and added a laundry list of complaints.
During this term of council I have come to you twice about the Mayor’s treatment of me, both times they were dismissed, one time you went to my competition for an opinion about me. This type of relational harassment which a type of aggression in which harm is caused by damaging someone’s relationships or social status MUST STOP
Anyone watching any council meeting can see how he treats me. Why does he treat me like this? Because residents came to me on election day Oct 2018 and I took their concerns seriously. I was the whistleblower and since then the OPP have charged him.
If this Council should deem that taking away my pay for me wanting ELK and Hydro one to provide reliable service to the residents of Essex I will be working without pay for the rest of my career on Essex Council.
To address the second part of the complaint, I sent you my response and I believed the file was closed and awaited your report. Weeks later you added two more items that are not related to ELK or the picture and gave me 4days to answer. I’m sure you got a big “thanks Bob” for doing that since in Mr Snivleys earlier emails Mr Snivley complained to you about my billboard and having a community meeting in Colchester Mr Snivley appeared to be begging his friend “Bob” when he wrote, . Bob I’m asking you to help me this one. And in a later sentence Please I’m asking you to take some sort of action.
I responded to your granting Mr Snivley’s request of adding on more non related items. I answered that I answered your concerns in a timely manner and in good faith and will not answer Mr Snivey’s latest grievance unless you start a new file. And I repeat, you gave me 4 days to respond, not the 10 that is spelled out in the Code of Conduct.
There is no mention of this in your report today as to why I had to rush my answer or my response to you agreeing to Mr Snively wishes of adding more after I responded. I do believe my answers I sent you for the June 7th deadline are discussed with Mr Snively and maybe it was decided after that discussion the honest answers were just that, too honest. You make no mention in your report if the added Trumped up items were added before or after you and Mr Snively discussed my responses if you two discussed my responses at all.
So again I will respond to a fair, proper, formal complaint if the mayor decides to pursue another politically motivated one. The current complaint was also accepted by the IC with information in it dating outside of the sixy days as stated in our code of conduct.
In her response to the complaint, she attempted to assert that the drawing was not intended to portray an ELK staff member which I found to be absurd, given her long history of criticizing ELK staff.
My response of Is 100% factual. You failed to investigate. Why?
I repeat, I asked if you would like to hear from the sender? No. You prefer just Mr Snivley and his cohorts, I asked you to contact the original artist to see the intent. There is no mention of you speaking with either in this report.
It appears that Mr Snivleys pleading of you “Bob I’m asking you to help me this one” has paid off in spades. I am now looking forward to the next series of complaints by him that you again will be bringing to this Council. Maybe I’ll put up another billboard for him to complain to you about.
There is also no mention in the report that I should remove the artwork from my FB Page or issue and apology within two months. These inconsistencies are uncanny and are really showing the different rules and different treatment here in the town of essex.
It would make sense for our council including our mayor to review the Code of Conduct and have increased training. Let me read the Conflict of Interest section of the code,
“Public confidence in the Town of Essex is a risk when the conduct of a member involves, or appears to invoice a conflict of loyalties, usually stated as a conflict between public duty and private interests“.