A petition circulating Moose Jaw calling for the resignation of Coun. Brian Swanson made it before city council Tuesday night with nearly 900 signatures.
However, Mayor Fraser Tolmie said council does not have the authority to remove an elected councillor.
“We’re not a political party and so we can’t remove someone from caucus. We can’t as council unelect an elected member — it’s up to the community,” Tolmie said.
Swanson is accused of mishandling sexual harassment complaints from eight women employees against the former director of operations for the Downtown Facility and Fieldhouse, who has since left that position.
In doing so, Swanson took confidential personnel reports home, prompting the city to level sanctions against Swanson and two other councillors.
Local resident Jody Chell started the petition, calling for Swanson’s resignation over what she called privacy concerns.
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“After the investigative report came out and was made public by Moose Jaw City Council, I noticed on social media, a lot of people were complaining why wasn’t more done? Why weren’t these people removed from council? I just took it upon myself to use social media as an avenue for the residents to speak out,” Chell said.
While the city isn’t confirming the nature of the allegations, Swanson acknowledges harassment allegations in the following statement.
- It was at the request of the senior DFFH employee responsible for Human Resources in the presence of another employee that I received files from DFFH that had been gathered by staff from the desk of a terminated employee. There was no surreptitious action or malevolent intent in doing so.
- I secured the material in my home office where at any given time there are a number of confidential city reports and materials. City councillors are not provided with office space at City Hall.
- Neither I, nor anyone else, read those materials whilst in my possession. I turned them over to my lawyer who provided them to an investigator upon request. No breach of confidentiality occurred.
- The Board of DFFH, which included a senior member of City Administration in an Ex Officio capacity, took reasonable action when apprised of allegations of harassment and inappropriate use of language by DFFH employees based on the information available when the action was taken.
- During the last year and a half, the DFFH Board significantly improved opportunities for staff input into decision making. I am proud of the many improvements to customer service and third-party relationships with Curl Moose Jaw, the Moose Jaw Warriors, and the Compass Group that occurred. As well, significant improvements were made to the financial viability of DFFH as evidenced in the public 6 month financial update provided to Council immediately prior to the dissolution of the DFFH Board and imposition of sanctions by Mayor Tolmie and councillors Luhning and Warren.
- I deeply appreciate the support and encouragement from numerous Moose Jaw citizens during the past several weeks. I am also so appreciative of the support from my wife and children and regret what they have had to go through. It is little wonder so few quality people allow their names to stand for public office.
- At all times during my tenure on the DFFH Board, I acted to the best of my ability in striving to govern the facilities in the best interests of DFFH and our community.
- I will continue to serve the citizens of Moose Jaw and fulfill the mandate provided [to] me at the last civic election.
“I can only say that it was a serious personnel matter and we’re respecting the individuals who have come forward and we want to respect their privacy and their desire to move on and move forward,” Tolmie said.
A third-party investigation found the three councillors failed in their duty as DFFH board members to deal with a serious personnel matter violating the council’s code of ethics bylaw.
While Swanson did acknowledge taking home confidential documents, within his statement, he said it’s not uncommon.
“There are times we take home confidential documents but not original, not dealing with personnel matters,” Tolmie said.
While Swanson did not resign his seat, he also declined to further comment on the matter.
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