Perhaps one of the worst kept secrets in Greater Napanee was thrust into the spotlight at the July 25 council meeting.
That ‘secret’ is this: there’s an obvious divide between the town’s elected and the town’s paid staff.
The issue was brought to a head following the presentation of an integrity report by Aird and Berlis LLP. The findings of that report has already been summarized within these pages, but in short: an independent party ruled councillor Mike Schenk violated protocol when he questioned whether a town employee was sleeping during a meeting and recommended he be reprimanded. The majority of council voted no reprimand was necessary.
That council decided not even a verbal reprimand was warranted spoke volumes as to how divided the two sides have become-a simple ‘he shouldn’t have done it’ mixed in with an apology may have helped lay the ground towards a better working relationship. Councilors Bob Norrie and Angela Hicks went in a different direction, with Norrie publicly stating he lost all respect for the town employee for bringing the matter to the integrity commissioner while Hicks called out town staff for looking at their phones during while in council chambers, saying instead they should be focused on the meeting.
These comments come at a time when the town has been experiencing an eyebrow-raising amount of staff turnover from within several senior management positions. It wasn’t that long ago-maybe four or five years-that during its annual recognition of staff service time the municipality was boasting about its retention rate, seeing levels that made neighbouring communities green with envy. Those good feelings seem to have shifted of late and its no longer whispers going on behind the scenes-it’s out in the open on YouTube streams for anyone to see. That’s not an ideal message to send as the town embarks on a search for its third Chief Administration Officer in the last three years.
Norrie brought up the issue of how dealing with Schenk’s comment through an integrity commission costs the taxpayer’s money-and it’s a very valid point. That’s not the only ‘cost’ of these squabbles either. Any qualified candidate could very reasonably now have second thoughts before applying to any opening within the town. That leads to the inevitable catch-22-the town wants a brilliant candidate; a brilliant candidate will know to steer clear of a toxic work place.
Indeed Greater Napanee Fire chief Bill Hammond spelled it out in black and white: no current town staff has any interest in moving to senior management positions within the town right now. This isn’t just rumours on social media from questionable sources-this is current senior staff laying it all out on the table before council and the public.
A culture change isn’t going to happen over night, but it’ll certainly be one of the first major tasks for the next CAO. Perhaps one with experiencing in righting a ship with similar issues will have an inside track-provided they’re willing to take on this challenge.
Slow as the process may be, the sooner it gets started the better it’ll be for all parties involved-the taxpayer included.
-Adam Prudhomme