The City of Montreal has lodged a formal complaint with the Quebec Municipal Commission citing Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough Mayor Sue Montgomery’s lack of action over a harassment case in her office.
The complaint, which was announced by the city on Friday, states Montgomery failed to implement the recommendations by the city’s comptroller general.
“Ms. Montgomery’s inaction contributes to the maintenance of a difficult working climate which has consequences for the smooth functioning of the borough,” the city said in a statement.
READ MORE: Borough Mayor Sue Montgomery removed from Projet Montreal caucus
The commission — which acts as a tribunal, administrative organization and audit body in the province — works to help municipalities in difficult situations and implement the best practices at a local level.
Montral Mayor Valérie Plante said on Friday the investigation of the harassment case will now be between Montgomery, the comptroller general and the commission.
“What I want is to have a borough that functions,” she said.
Montgomery issued her own statement on Friday afternoon, saying that her priority is that the borough “continues to function well” and that she acted as soon as she was made aware of the allegations.
“I assigned a member of my team as the contact between my office and bureaucrats. The comptroller general has never asked me to fire my chief of staff,” said Montgomery. “This demand comes from Mayor Plante.
“Why is the Plante administration allowing the comptroller general to hide the facts ? I reiterate my request to Mayor Plante that she make the report public and redact confidential elements.”
Investigation began in September
In September 2019, the city appointed two investigators to look into the allegations of psychological harassment toward employees in the Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough.
“After analysis, the investigators concluded that there was psychological harassment of the two employees concerned and that there were significant shortcomings in the work climate aspect, as well as Ms. Montgomery’s willful blindness,” the city said.
The comptroller general issued several measures to prevent a similar situation and submitted several recommendations.
Montgomery, for her part, has alleged she was asked to fire someone without evidence and she refused to comply with the measure.
READ MORE: CDN-NDG residents bus to council to support Sue Montgomery
As a result, Montgomery was kicked out of the Projet Montréal caucus in late January. Plante argued Montgomery was urged to comply with the recommendations several times, and that she had no choice but to remove her from the caucus upon her refusal.
The city filed the complaint on Friday, saying that Montgomery has still not acted on the recommendations “despite numerous meetings and interventions.”
Plante said she does stand by her decision to exclude Montgomery from her caucus, saying she could not accept that an elected official did not follow through with recommendations from the comptroller general.
— With files from Global News’ Tim Sargeant and Annabelle Olivier