Sarnia's integrity commissioner has dismissed a code of conduct complaint filed earlier this year by a former city councillor.
Matt Mitro, who was defeated in last fall's municipal election, filed a lengthy document and affidavit with the city clerk on February 28.
Matt Mitro (BlackburnNews.com photo by Melanie Irwin)
He alleged Mayor Mike Bradley violated council's code between May of 2017 and early 2019, and that councillors Margaret Bird, Bill Dennis and Dave Boushy had breached it since the October 2018 election.
Commissioner Paul Watson told BlackburnNews.com he notified Mitro and City Clerk Dianne Gould-Brown of his decision, by letter, May 2nd.
"I did review the complaint to determine if there was sufficient grounds to conduct an investigation and I determined that there was not and therefore, pursuant to section 19.6 of the code of conduct, I have in fact dismissed the complaint on the grounds that there's insufficient grounds for an investigation."
Watson said he was not required to announce his decision publicly.
"The code of conduct basically says that the integrity commissioner is not to report to council regarding a complaint unless there is a formal investigation conducted," said Watson. "The intention is to protect the privacy of both the complainant and the member of council. In this case, I've been told that the complainant has made this letter very public, so in that respect, it appears he's waived his privacy rights."
The complaint listed 182 exhibits that included meeting excerpts, and media stories and commentary.
