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Special Bulletin #2: To The Residents Of The Waverley West Ward & City Of Winnipeg

Apr 9, 2019

RE: Allegations against staff in the property Planning and Development Department

 

Since the allegations came forward last Thursday (April 4th, 2019) I’ve had the opportunity to speak with both the Manager, Development and Inspections and the Director of Property Planning and Development about the allegations. I speak to these individuals on a weekly basis, primarily around issues related to the tremendous development occurring in Southwest Winnipeg. Both the Manager and Director are fully supporting this investigation.

On Friday, April 5th, a day after Council was made aware of the allegations, the Chief Corporate Services Officer informed Council that:

  • Shortly after the Winnipeg Free Press article was published on Thursday, the City formally commenced an investigation.
  • Friday morning, the CAO’s Office, PPD Senior Management, Human Resources and Labour Relations met to chart out next steps.
  • The Labour Relations Division will be leading the investigation, which will include employee interviews beginning Monday morning.
  • The investigation plan will consider all available evidence, including reviewing inspection files (both paper and electronic), and reviewing all available relevant data (such as the kind of information recorded on devices like tablets and phones).

Motion for Public Report

On April 8th, at the Assiniboia Community Committee, I brought forward and moved the following motion, which was supported by Councillors Gillingham and Klein. I believe it is important to have full disclosure for the public in a written report.

WHEREAS  recent media reports allege some City of Winnipeg employees within the Planning, Property and Development Department may not be conducting themselves appropriately during working hours;

AND WHEREAS  the City has initiated a formal investigation into the allegations;

AND WHEREAS  if some or all of the allegations are proven to be true, the resulting employee disciplinary actions will become the responsibility of the Human Resources Department to address, and will not become public information;

AND WHEREAS  it is the responsibility of Council to provide oversight and stewardship of tax dollars and to ensure citizens have confidence that their tax dollars are being utilized in the most efficient manner possible;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED  that the Assiniboia Community Committee recommends to Executive Policy Committee that the Chief Administrative Officer be directed to make public to Council a full and detailed report of the employee conduct investigation within the Planning, Property and Development Department, including its findings, within 30 days of the closing of the investigation.

Media Coverage

Media has since conducted additional interviews on this motion. I want to thank them for their coverage on this very important issue:

Again, I will reiterate, I believe there is an extremely weak ‘top-down’ leadership approach to ensuring the City OPERATES and FUNCTIONS internally at peak performance. I will continue to keep you posted.