Merrickville-Wolford resident, Dawn Dawson, approached council last Monday night to ask about the second workplace investigation of the year in the municipality. At a special meeting on Tuesday, September 4, council decided to hire a workplace investigator to look into potential harassment at the municipal centre. Considering the length and cost of the previous investigation into former CAO John Regan, Dawn asked council to explain why this situation merited the employment of another workplace investigator. She also wondered whether the investigation being conducted by the OPP is at all related to the harassment allegations.
Interim CAO, Doug Robertson, answered her questions as best he could, without breaking the confidentiality of the closed session, or jeopardizing the integrity of the investigation.
“Whenever an employer is aware of a [harassment] complaint, they must hire a workplace investigator,” he says. “Council is acting on legal advice.”
He also clarified that this investigation is separate from the investigation being conducted by the OPP surrounding the recordings of municipal staff which were circulated in the municipality over the summer.
Doug assured Dawn and the gallery that the workplace investigator they have hired is working quickly and efficiently, keeping costs low. “We are being as transparent as the law would allow us to be,” he said.