Integrity Commissioner endorsed for second term

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/02/2019 (1891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A group of councillors is recommending local lawyer Sherri Walsh’s contract as city hall’s Integrity Commissioner be renewed for a second, two-year term.

Councillors on the governance committee voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend Walsh’s reappointment.

Walsh also explained to the committee why she had recused herself from investigating a complaint against a councillor, which she said had been reported incorrectly by some media outlets.

“She’s provided a lot of work to date and a lot of work still needs to be done,” said Coun. Devi Sharma, chairwoman of the governance committee and council Speaker, in supporting Walsh’s re-appointment.

Walsh was hired by council in February 2017 on a two-year contract, which ran from April 1, 2017 to March 31 of this year. The original contract included options for a further five, two-year renewals.

Renewal of Walsh’s contract will be reviewed by Mayor Brian Bowman and members of his executive policy committee before it goes to council for a final decision.

Walsh had presented her latest annual report to the committee, which detailed her work throughout the past year, including dealing with public complaints against three councillors for alleged breaches of the Council Code of Conduct.

In response to a question from Coun. John Orlikow on how she deals with conflicts of interest, Walsh explained that the contract is actually between city hall and her firm, Hill Sokalski Walsh LLP. Terms of the contract, she said, prohibit any of the firm’s lawyers from representing clients in a complaint against a member of council which would require her investigation as Integrity Commissioner.

Walsh said the firm is allowed to represent clients suing city hall, however, she added, she would recuse herself from an investigation if one of those clients also makes a complaint to the Integrity Commissioner’s office against a member of council. In that instance, she said, the investigation would be assigned to another lawyer unrelated to her firm.

That was the case, Walsh said, for the investigation into the complaint of developer Andrew Marquess against Orlikow. As Marquess engaged Walsh’s firm for a separate legal action against city hall and several senior department officials, Walsh said Marquess’ complaint against Orlikow was assigned to London, Ont-based lawyer Gregory Levine, who has been an integrity commissioner for several Ontario municipalities.

Walsh said media had incorrectly stated that she had recused herself from the Orlikow investigation because of a small financial donation she had made to him during the 2010 civic election campaign.

Walsh said that a legal opinion provided by Levine in 2017 to her, acting as the city’s Integrity Commissioner, concluded a campaign donation to a councillor before the position was created did not create a real, or apparent, conflict of interest and should not preclude her from pursuing investigations against Orlikow or any other councillor in a similar situation.

Levine said in his report that it would be “problematic” if an Integrity Commissioner were to make a campaign donation while holding the office of Integrity Commissioner “because it would raise serious questions of impartiality.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.cacomm