Bill Dennis again violated council’s code of conduct: Sarnia integrity commissioner

A Sarnia city councillor could be facing another pay suspension, after the city’s integrity commissioner says Bill Dennis again violated the council’s code of conduct.

Article content

And the councillor, whose March 11 outburst prompted, for the second time in five months, a city council meeting to end early, said he’s not surprised.

“Quite honestly, I don’t think (integrity commissioner Benjamin M. Drory) had any choice but to find that I had violated the code of conduct,” said Dennis about Drory recommending docking Dennis’ pay 45 days.

Drory, in a 60-page reportfound, on March 11, Dennis repeatedly violated the section of council’s code requiring members to show respect and decorum, and not distract from city business when other members are on the floor.

Dennis contravened the code by calling others on council “clowns,” and failing multiple times to stop speaking when he was called to order, Drory said.

Article content

“Frankly, the analysis of this issue is straightforward,” Drory said in his report, calling Dennis’ code violation “significant,” and part of a pattern.

He also noted Dennis showed “blatant” disrespect for fellow council members.

Dennis said there were reasons for his behaviour, alleging others on council were engaging in “political gamesmanship.”

Dennis again Thursday said he views himself as an outlier conservative politician on a “partisan” city council, and pointed to his track record of being in the minority on many votes as evidence.

Dennis said he’s often at odds with others on council and said he’s been “triggered” by Mayor Mike Bradley “playing games,” allegedly cutting him off during meetings or calling on others to speak when, Dennis said, he’s had his hand up first.

Article content

“So, shame on me for letting him trigger me,” said Dennis, who again Thursday talked about his plans to run for mayor in 2026.

“People are going to see a more disciplined,” he said, not finishing his sentence, then adding “I’m not going to swing at (Bradley’s) pitches in the dirt in the future. So, he’s not going to get the rise out of me that he got.”

Bradley invited people to watch the video of the March 11 meeting.

“I went out of my way, and I do, to be a fair chairman and I don’t play favourites,” he said, adding Dennis’ actions were “self-prompted”

Explanations regardless, Dennis contravened council’s code, Drory said, recommending a more significant penalty than the two days’ pay suspension council imposed on Dennis in Februaryafter similar behavior in Octoberfor which Dennis has apologized.

Article content

The Council will decide, when it meets on July 8, whether to take Drory’s advice.

The integrity commissioner noted Dennis also could have been ejected from the March 11 meeting and not allowed to retake his seat before apologizing — something Dennis hasn’t done and said he won’t do — but suspending the meeting until order was restored “was also an available option,” under council’s procedural bylaw.

In recommending the penalty, Drory noted Dennis said money isn’t a factor for him. Dennis Thursday again said he “couldn’t care less” about his pay being docked and he’ll “do this job for free.”

But the only punishments available under provincial legislation for violating the council’s code of conduct are reprimand and pay suspension, of up to 90 days, Drory said.

Article content

“Even if I cannot know if any action council takes might influence Coun. Dennis’ actions in the future, it is appropriate for the council to act upon the conduct that took place using the only measures it has legislatively available,” he said.

Social media posts from Dennis also came under the microscope after council called on Drory on March 18 to investigate Dennis, including his “liking” a Facebook post calling for unnamed “socialist” council members to be lynched in the streets.

Council was justified in being alarmed by what, if taken literally, is a call to murder people via a violent mob, Drory said.

“But it is more difficult to analyze the meaning of Coun. Dennis ‘liking’ the post,” he said.

Dennis told The Observer he was never calling for violence, but sometimes puts a thumbs-up on comments to show engagement, without really reading them.

Article content

He told Drory the same, the report says.

“Regardless, it was wrong, but it is absolutely ridiculous to even suggest I would support lynching,” Dennis wrote to Drory, according to the report.

That defence is plausible, Drory said.

And, given there’s no social media policy for council members, as there is in municipalities such as Guelph and Toronto, that “limits my ability to find a breach of the Code of Conduct through social media activity,” he said, recommending only that Sarnia should create and implement a social media policy for members of council and local boards.

“Without one, the expectations upon elected and appointed officials are only weakly clear or enforceable,” he said.

Dennis said he’s against such a policy.

Article content

“I stand for free expression,” he said, calling for people offended by something on social media to “keep scrolling or block it.”

If people are offended by things he says on social media “make a mental note of it and say ‘That Dennis guy doesn’t deserve my vote,’” he said.

Bradley said he thinks the council’s code of conduct is enough.

“If the council wants to add something on, I wish them luck trying to come up with a coherent, rational, fair social media policy,” he said.

“But I believe the code of conduct covers all those issues at this point.”

Meanwhile, Dennis is the subject of another integrity complaint, this time about comments he made on social media decrying a Sarnia-Lambton Children’s Aid Society hiring initiative promoting diversitysaid CAS executive director Dawn Flegel.

Article content

Dennis confirmed his lawyer is involved in that investigation.

And Dennis said he’s the subject of a workplace harassment complaint at city hall, linked to a dispute with chief administrator Chris Carter over Dennis’ approach bringing citizen concerns to city staff.

“Apparently it’s not appropriate to criticize and call out unelected bureaucrats who make over 300K ($300,000 a year) for not doing their job properly,” Dennis said in a May 16 Facebook post announcing the complaint.

Dennis added in the post he works for citizens, and city officials “will never stop me from speaking the truth regardless of how uncomfortable it makes them feel.”

Dennis said he’s been told he can only contact Carter, and not other city staff directly.

Article content

City spokesperson Steve Henschel, asked about Dennis’ comments, said the city “cannot comment on any specifics related to a workplace harassment complaint made under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”

Council meanwhile hasn’t met in person since May 6 and has been holding meetings by teleconference instead.

“It’s related to issues in the workplace that have been brought forward by staff, council and others, and it was deemed prudent … to protect the people who came forward until we can get through this situation,” Bradley said.

He did not say whether the precautionary measure is related to any particular investigation or person.

There is no timeline for in-person meetings to resume, he said.

[email protected]

Article content