Embattled Hanwell councillor resigns half-way through suspension
Pat Septon says saga of repercussions has been 'taxing'
Pat
Septon, left in photo with councillors Darren MacKenzie and Lee Crouse,
has resigned from his seat on Hanwell council, saying the series of
reprimands and sanctions he's received have been difficult. (Aidan Cox/CBC)Pat Septon said he resigned Aug. 28 as councillor-at-large for the rural municipality southwest of Fredericton because the series of events that has been difficult for him.
"It's been taxing, especially for me and I'm sure others," said Septon.
"I don't want to take away from the other councillors at all, including the ones perpetrating this. It's tough on everybody and frankly, maybe somebody else is going to have a better chance at succeeding than, than I have."
Hanwell Mayor Dave Morrison says he doesn't think Septon 'really understood his role as councillor.' (Aidan Cox/CBC)According to Mayor Dave Morrison, conflict that had been brewing between Septon and other councillors and municipal staff since last fall came to a head in December.
Twenty-six allegations were made that Septon violated the councillors' code of conduct, and an investigation by the municipal clerk deemed 19 to be founded.
That led to Septon being sanctioned, which included a reprimand, his remuneration being suspended for six months and a requirement he apologize to the clerk and assistant clerk.
Despite the sanctions, Morrison said, Septon continued breaching the code of conduct, prompting the community to solicit an independent investigator. Rollie King, a senior adviser with MC Advisory, affiliated with the McInness Cooper law firm, also found Septon breached the code of conduct.
Some of those breaches centred around statements Septon made on social media regarding the construction of a trail and crosswalk along Route 640 to accommodate students at the recently built Hanwell Park Academy school.
"He made unsubstantiated claims such as the RCMP did not want the trail installed," wrote the independent investigator, in his report.
"He asserted claims that were misleading and could harm the professional reputation of Staff including a statement to the effect that the [chief administrative officer] and another member of Council had no compassion for a child who was struck by a vehicle."
Some
of those breaches centred around statements Septon made on social media
about the construction of a trail and crosswalk along Route 640 to
accommodate students at the recently built Hanwell Park Academy school. (Hanwell Park Academy/Facebook)"Pat, I don't think really understood his role as councillor," Morrison said.
"He kind of [saw] himself as the overseer of council and you know, in Hanwell we've got 7,500 overseers of council, we certainly didn't need another one."
Controversy prompts another resignation
Septon isn't the only councillor resigning from his seat.
Deborah Peck also quit, as of last month, as councillor for Ward 5, over concerns she had that the ongoing conflict was preventing staff from effectively doing their jobs.
It comes less than a year after she was sworn in after winning a byelection for the new seat that represents a ward covering the annexed Kingsclear local service district.
Deborah
Peck says she resigned from Hanwell council because staff were unable
to get work done efficiently because of the influx of right to
information requests. (Aidan Cox/CBC) She said the reason she resigned was that she didn't see any end to the conflict on council.
"I found that the stress the staff was going through definitely impacted the way councillors could do their work in a timely fashion," she said.
She said a big challenge to staff was having to process a flurry of requests under the Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which poured in in recent months.
"There are so many requests for information ... being submitted to Hanwell. They take a tremendous amount of time."
Morrison said the municipality has fielded at least 15 right to information requests in recent months, some of which have come from Septon, and others from members of the public who he encouraged to do the same.
"They're just frivolous and people are just doing it to, you know, tie up time for whatever reasons," he said.
"It's too bad because, I mean, it hurts the community, it keeps council from moving forward, getting stuff done that we'd like to get done."
3 seats open for byelection
On top of the two recent resignations, the council seat for Ward 4 has remained vacant since an earlier resignation last fall.
That means three seats will be on the ballot for the Oct. 23 municipal byelection.
"I encourage people to put their name out there and and and run for office," Morrison said.
"But I certainly don't encourage anybody out there that has their own personal agenda."
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"I encourage people to put their name out there and and and run for office," Morrison said
Conflict on council has been brewing since last fall and came to a head in December, said Hanwell Mayor Dave Morrison.
Twenty-six allegations were made against Septon, and an investigation by the municipal clerk deemed 19 to be founded.
That led to Septon being sanctioned, which included a reprimand, his remuneration being suspended for six months, and a requirement he apologize to the clerk and assistant clerk.
Despite the sanctions, Morrison said, Septon continued breaching the code of conduct, prompting the community to solicit an independent investigator, who also found Septon breached the code of conduct.
Rollie King, a senior adviser with MC Advisory, wrote in a report that he reviewed social media posts made by Septon, as well as emails sent and received between him and other councillors and municipal staff.
Ten of the code of conduct violations centred on comments Septon made regarding the construction of a crosswalk to accommodate students at the new Hanwell Park Academy school.
Septon felt strongly that a crosswalk needed to be built adjacent to the school on Route 640, King wrote.
As promised we are going to talk about each and every code of conduct. Unfortunately it can't be talked about in 3-5 min, each is bigger than that. This is about the Solar Panel project and I have more questions than answers now, than I ever have before. I ask we assume everyone is not guilty even if I feel something is wrong, the process must be wrong for sure. I take NO JOY what so ever posting these conversations, and it is the first you have heard from me. The McInnis Cooper Affiliate MC Advisory group states that for serious issues Council can circumvent our by-laws and procedures, ergo they should of in my case. And recommends that these are serious. That it is my job to not make council look bad. I agree. However I humbly present that it isn't I who is making us on Council look bad. It is other actors.
I understand why I am concerned, but my question is, why are not other Councillors? The Mayor? Why sanction the codes of conduct against me, and ignore getting answers on this? Why was it I was determined to have violated our codes of conduct on this? For listening to a citizen who reached out? But everyone else is ok with these issues?
You can listen to Councillor MacKenzie's argument about his code of conduct against me here: Get involved ask me questions, ask @gnbca to get involved. Ask questions on why.
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