Sarnia council is being asked to dismiss the city's integrity commissioner.
Councillor Brian White has served notice of motion that council direct staff to release Paul Watson from his contract after the commissioner inadvertently shared a screen during council's last ZOOM meeting that showed names of Sarnia complainants.
"The reality is, confidence has been shaken in our process, and I think this is one of the most fundamental processes that we have as a municipal government and that is the ability to file a complaint against an elected official and if people do not have confidence that their information will be held in private, then we need to reevaluate our process," said White.
He said whether or not the action was intentional is irrelevant.
"Much like a sports team, if people have lost confidence in the team, very often you'll see the team replace a coach and that's not necessarily because the coach isn't qualified for the job, but simply because the process is no longer working."
Mayor Mike Bradley thinks the call for Watson's removal is unwarranted.
"As chair, I caught that a list of the complainants was on the integrity commissioner's screen and immediately brought it to his attention and it was taken down," said Bradley. "It was an innocent mistake and I think we should be fair. He did not violate the privacy laws deliberately."
Bradley thinks dismissing the integrity commissioner would be regrettable.
"In my view it was a minor breach. The thing that comes back to me is forgiveness. He made a mistake. He's apologized for it. He's contacted all of the people that were identified and I think we should be fair and balanced as it relates to his position and not take any action to dismiss him."
If White's motion on council's Monday agenda is approved, staff will be directed to issue a request for proposals for a replacement.
