A Georgian Bluffs councillor will have her pay suspended for a month after the township’s Integrity Commissioner found she engaged in a “relentless pursuit” of enforcement activity against a property.
Council voted at Wednesday’s meeting to suspend Cathy Moore Coburn’s pay for 30 days as Principles Integrity concluded an allegation she engaged in “harassing behaviour towards ratepayers in regard to a property they own and operate as a cottage rental business” is “substantiated on the facts.”
A report from Principles Integrity says a complaint against Moore Coburn was submitted in November 2023 by two township residents. They alleged Moore Coburn had been directing various staff members, including those working in bylaw enforcement, to carry out actions towards them.
“It was further alleged that the councillor had been using her position and influence as a councillor, to gain insight and/or information pertaining to the case from staff members at other agencies including Grey Sauble Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry,” Janice Atwood-Petkovski of Principles Integrity told Georgian Bluffs councillors during Wednesday’s meeting. “And that she had been passing this information on to individual ratepayers.”
Atwood-Petkovski says Moore Coburn’s behaviour began in 2020 and continued “to the present day.”
“We found the complaint was substantiated on the facts,” Atwood-Petkovski says. “The councillor had been overly involved to the point of relentless pursuit, following up on the enforcement activity against the property … it is not the role of councillors to attempt to directly or indirectly influence enforcement activities.”
Moore Coburn acknowledged Wednesday she did overstep her role at times and offered an apology. But also says she is disappointed with some aspects of the integrity commissioner’s report.
“I believe my part in the situation has been overstated,” Moore Coburn claims. “And it certainly doesn’t come close to taking the entire story into account.”
The Principles Integrity report provides some background, saying residential properties “built along the bayshore” near Wiarton are central to the issue.
It goes on to say the complainants own property they use for cottage rentals, which has been owned and operated by the family for over 50 years. They’ve been undertaking “certain refurbishments to the beach and surrounding area.”
The Principles report says in the past several years, the property became a concern to a neighbouring owner because the cottages were being used as short-term rentals and work was being undertaken along the shoreline. The owners maintained the work being done is legal and permitted.
But the neighbour didn’t agree, and filed multiple complaints with bylaw enforcement. The report says the neighbour reached out to Moore Coburn and others multiple times. And rather than simply passing information along to bylaw enforcement, Moore Coburn “repeatedly engaged” the property owners.
“Emails reviewed during this investigation make it clear that councillor Moore Coburn did not give equal consideration to the perspectives and narratives of the (neighbour) that brought concerns to her, and the property owners who are the complainants in this matter,” Principles Integrity says in its report.
The report says while there’s evidence the actions of the complainants may have occasionally not adhered to township bylaws, the lack of adherence has been largely tolerated on other shoreline properties in the area. But the property owned by the complainants was under “significant scrutiny” starting in about 2021, and was visited multiple times by enforcement officers.
“The property serves as the personal residence of the owner’s family, which includes small children,” the integrity commissioner’s report explains. “The repeated visits to the property by uniformed officers attending in marked vehicles has been experienced as traumatizing to the family.”
Moore Coburn: “We are all well aware this situation has been longstanding and increasing problematic for our municipality. And also quite costly. I have had serious concerns about the escalating conflict and significant community disruption. And so I urged for action to get it resolved, as copious complaints were being submitted over many years. I was simply trying to do what I felt was the right thing.”
The integrity commissioner’s report also acknowledges there was frequent turnover with Georgian Bluffs’ CAO position in recent years. And says while the “lack of clear policies or guidelines for staff, as well as lack of oversight” was a contributing factor in enabling Moore Coburn’s behaviour, “nothing justifies the relentless scrutiny which the councillor has brought to bear on this particular property.”
The recommended course of action from Principles Integrity was suspending Moore Coburn’s pay for 15 days. Council ended up imposing a more severe penalty of 30 days. Moore Coburn will also be required to complete a training session on the roles and responsibilities of members of council, which will be set up for all Georgian Bluffs councillors to participate in.
“This is an opportunity for all of us to learn and become better representatives for the township,” Mayor Sue Carleton says.
