Integrity commissioner recommends reprimand for Napanee councillor

Another integrity commissioner’s report will be sent to Greater Napanee’s council Tuesday evening for a vote.

This time, the actions of Coun. Michael Schenk will be under review, with an integrity commissioner’s report recommending he be reprimanded.

According to the report, the commissioner’s office received a complaint a day after the May 23 council meeting, where Schenk made several comments about a town employee.

One of the items listed in the report is from a discussion about the dissolution of the town BIA in 2022.

In the meeting, Schenk references a comment made by the CAO, John Pinsent, in a previous Napanee Beaver article about the relationship between downtown businesses and the town being “toxic.”

In the recording of the May 23 council meeting on YouTube, Schenk then asks Pinsent if there was any “animosity between Brandt and the downtown.”

Although the integrity commissioner report does not list the name of the complainant, Schenk seems to refer to Brandt Zatterberg, the town’s general manager of community and corporate services, as the person who allegedly had a toxic relationship with downtown businesses. Zatterberg has not responded to a request for comment.

After Schenk’s comment, Pinsent then clarifies that his statement didn’t single out a specific person, and that there was no longer an issue between the town and business owners.

According to the report, Schenk then later accuses “the town employee” of falling asleep at the meeting, although this is not recorded on the town’s video feed.

Finally, the complainant alleged that Schenk ridiculed him while he was out of the room, and made a “shooting in the head” gesture while the employee was speaking on a previous occasion.

Although Schenk told Global News he would not comment on the report until after council voted on it Tuesday, he did justify his actions to the integrity commissioner.

“(The CAO) assured me that the issues that he previously had referenced as toxic was (sic) not an issue and I accepted that without qualification,” Schenk said, referencing the suggestion that the employee’s relationship with local businesses was toxic.

“I had no intention of implying that (the town employee) was the problem, as it was quite possible it was certain merchants were the issue and not him at all,” Schenk said in the report.

Schenk also said he mentioned the staff member was sleeping out of concern for the heat in the council chambers.

“My concern was that conditions in the chamber were not appropriate for the comfort of all as it is quite possible that at the end of a long meeting in hot conditions people may nod off,” Schenk said in the report.

As for the shooting gesture, Schenk said he was having an “emotional reaction,” and that the gesture was meant to display his own “political suicide,” and not directed at anyone else.

Despite these assertions, the integrity commissioner found Schenk “was not respectful, professional or courteous,” when addressing the question of “toxicity” between the town employee and downtown businesses.

It also found that Schenk was disrespectful when publicly announcing that the town employee was sleeping in the council chambers, something the staff member explicitly denied to the integrity commissioner.

“I was not sleeping in chambers during the council meeting and to suggest otherwise is offensive,” the unidentified employee said in the report.

The integrity commissioner found that in total, Schenk contravened three sections of the municipal code of conduct.

The integrity commissioner recommended that council reprimand Schenk, but stopped short of recommending any financial penalties.

Although the commissioner’s office requested that Schenk offer a submission on the findings of the report, it had yet to receive one by the time of publication.

This is the third integrity commissioner’s report to come to Napanee council since 2021. Council has also recently ordered a review of the use of its procurement bylaw following allegations of misuse.