Debate surrounding a formal request to have London's integrity commissioner probe the city hall sex scandal has been put on hold.
Councillor Josh Morgan put forward a motion at the corporate services committee on Monday, requesting newly-hired Integrity Commissioner Greg Stewart investigate whether Mayor Matt Brown and former Deputy Mayor Maureen Cassidy's affair broke council's code of conduct.
The motion hit an immediate brick wall when Councillor Harold Usher asked to go behind closed doors before opening debate on the issue. Usher said he needed legal advice as he believed some of his comments might be "privileged."
Three hours later, committee members returned but only to unanimously pass a motion to refer the debate to a special meeting of the committee set for Thursday.
"There was advice given in camera that I can't talk about and based on that advice councillors needed to refer this to the meeting on Thursday where it will be able to be debated," says Morgan.
In addition to looking for any violations by Brown and Cassidy, Morgan's motion requests Stewart enhance the code of conduct to include any interpretations that are missing.
"There are a number of items in the code that could be interpreted one way or another. Quite frankly, the code needs a lot of improvement," says Morgan. "I spoke to the integrity commissioner this morning. I wanted to ask him if that was something he would see as appropriate and he would quite look forward to providing recommendations and improvements to the code."
Brown met with the integrity commissioner to discuss the affair last Thursday but any recommendations made by Stewart during that meeting don't have to be released to the public.
Stewart is paid $250 an hour plus expenses while investigating issues at city hall.
Brown and Cassidy have taken leaves of absence since admitting last Tuesday to having an "inappropriate personal relationship." Cassidy's admission came just minutes after she resigned her post as deputy mayor.
