BONNYVILLE – A councillor with the MD of Bonnyville was found to have acted inappropriately and in a way that was deemed unbecoming by council.
Coun. Dana Swigart had all of his appointments to council committees revoked, was directed to refrain from speaking to any MD employees, other than the CAO, regarding municipal business, and was told a letter of reprimand would be written by Reeve Greg Sawchuk and posted on the MD website for residents to read.
The decision came after council came out of a closed session during the March 3 committee meeting, where they discussed the incident and the municipality's code of conduct for council members.
“Following a closed session (meeting) on Feb. 10, Coun. Swigart did improperly impose himself on matters of administration by speaking to (two) MD employees regarding a personal matter,” detailed Coun. Ben Fadeyiw, adding that Swigart failed to keep a private matter regarding municipal employees in-confidence.
“He claimed to speak on behalf of council without authorization, and failed to treat these employees with courtesy, dignity, and respect.”
When council discussed the occurrence during a Feb. 17 meeting, Swigart was asked three times if he had spoken to the employees in question and said that he didn’t do so.
“He denied doing so at this time, despite clear evidence to the contrary, thereby failing to act honestly and attempting to knowingly mislead council,” stated Fadeyiw.
In the letter of reprimand to Swigart, Sawchuk noted that council’s ability to govern is "severely compromised" when councillors can’t trust one another.
“You were elected to a position of public trust and have a duty to act in good faith in the best interests of the municipality at all times. A core component of this duty is to act honestly at all times,” he stressed. “You were specifically asked, three separate times, whether you had spoken to the municipal employees in question and you denied the allegation each time before all of your council colleagues. Council’s ability to govern is severely compromised when members of council cannot trust one another to be honest and forthright.”
Sawchuk described Swigart’s actions as "inexcusable."
“Interfering in matters of administration by confronting two municipal employees, claiming to speak on behalf of council without authorization, and making misleading statements to these employees is inexcusable. Your behaviour has compromised the CAO’s authority as the administrative head of the municipality, put yourself at risk, and tarnished council’s reputation.”
Council believes Swigart breached the code of conduct due to the fact it states members of council shouldn’t involve themselves in matters of administration that fall under the CAO’s authority The code of conduct also prohibits councillors from using or attempting to use their authority or influence for the purpose of intimidating, threatening, coercing, commanding, directly or influencing any employees of the municipality, and maliciously or falsely injuring the professional or ethical reputation of the prospects or practices of employees of the MD.
Although Sawchuk said it wasn’t an easy decision for council to make, Swigart's breach of the rules shouldn't be taken lightly.
“It’s my belief, and I think the belief of the rest of council, that we’re held to a higher ethical standard and we have a code of conduct for a reason. We’ve seen some examples at the federal levels where ethics breaches have been made and nobody has been held accountable or responsible and we know that the public can get outraged at those things. I think this is a case where this council can show that we can do better, we can perhaps show other levels of government that we can be accountable for our actions and uphold our own codes.”
Lakeland This Week has reached out to Swigart for a comment on the matter.
