North Bay City Council has imposed a loss of remuneration for 90 days on Coun. Sara Inch as a penalty for multiple breaches of the municipality's code of conduct detailed in a special integrity commissioner's report and ruling that Inch harassed Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield via email and social media posts earlier this year.
See related: City councillor faces penalty for code of conduct breaches
Inch will continue to attend all council functions and perform her duties without pay for three months. Council members voted unanimously to dock the first-term councillor's pay during a special council meeting held Thursday evening. Councillors Lana Mitchell and Tanya Vrebosch were absent.
Acting Integrity Commissioner Nicole Singh investigated the complaint filed by the deputy mayor relating to a series of emails and social media posts from Inch referencing Horsfield's age, pregnancy, and inability to perform her duties and ruled Inch's actions "amounted to harassment under the Code of Conduct, reflect a pattern of behaviour by the Respondent towards the Complainant that was unwelcome and ought reasonably to have been known to be unwelcome. I find that the three incidents complained of, individually and in their totality, could affect a person’s dignity and psychological health."
The other option available to the council was a reprimand but the members agreed on the financial penalty after Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield addressed her colleagues about Inch's actions.
See: the full Report from the Acting Integrity Commissioner
"Actions have consequences," said Horsfield. "We’re here today to accept the report in which Councillor Inch breached the code of conduct over and over and over again. A conversation would not have stopped her pattern of behaviour. The harassment continued even after the complaint was filed. The simple fact of the matter is that we wouldn’t be here today if the code of conduct had not been broken.
"We have a code of conduct. We have a process for investigating any breaches. The process was followed and the outcome is that she breached the code on all three accounts. If the cost of the report is such a factor, then a 90-day pay suspension is in order to recoup some of the cost for her actions."
Coun. Mark King had initially suggested a one-month loss of pay but Coun. Mac Bain suggested the full three months available to them was warranted and King agreed.
In her defence, Inch apologized. "I take full accountability for my behaviour. I assure you that I am reflecting deeply on my actions and the responsibility that comes with this position. I have also experienced harassment myself, bullying, unwelcome negative comments," she said before Mayor Peter Chirico spoke over the councillor. This occurred several times over the next few minutes as Chirico threatened to suspend the meeting until Inch spoke only about the topic at hand (see video below).
Inch gathered herself after the tense exchange with Chirico and continued with, "I am committed to learning from this experience and making amends. I will actively work on fostering a more respectful and collaborative environment within this council. I would like that very much. Our community deserves leaders who can engage in constructive dialogue and we set an example of professionalism and decorum together.
"Moving forward, I will be more mindful of my words and actions both online and offline," but Inch was soon admonished again by Chirico, who threatened to have her microphone turned off for suggesting she and Horsfield should split the cost of the $36,000-plus integrity commissioner fee.
