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Integrity commissioner will affect whistleblower hotline

He'll handle concerns about city councillors, a common complaint of callers
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Speaking at Tuesday's audit committee meeting, Auditor General Foster said the whistleblower hotline is operating more and more efficiently since it was established in 2016, with most complaints addressed within the timelines he's established, ranging from 30 to 120 days. (File)

Auditor General Ron Foster says now that the city has an integrity commissioner, he will refer complaints about city councillors to Robert Swayze, who officially assumed the post Jan. 1.

Speaking at Tuesday's audit committee meeting, Foster said the  whistleblower hotline is operating more and more efficiently since it was established in 2016, with most complaints addressed within the timelines he's established, ranging from 30 to 120 days.

There were 98 complaints lodged with the hotline between June and December 2018, an increase of eight complaints compared to the same period in 2017. Of those 98, 12 were incomplete and 75 have been dealt with, leaving 11 active complaints at the end of December.

The most common complaint was related to behaviour of city staff (23), followed by complaints about other residents or businesses (22) and about the conduct of city contractors (16). There were 13 complaints made about the conduct of city council, of which nine have been dealt with and four were still under investigation as of Dec. 31.

While not commenting on the nature of complaints, Foster said Tuesday almost all councillor complaints have been addressed since he wrote the report, including one that was referred to an outside body for investigation.

“My understanding is that the matter has been resolved,” Foster said. “It was (referred) to one of the larger agencies that has the structure in place and processes in place to manage the complaint.”

But with Swayze now on the job, Foster said those calls can now be funneled to the commissioner, allowing the line run more efficiently.

“I would refer those complaints over to the integrity commissioner,” he said. “I will meet with a commissioner and ask him to kindly do the same, in the event that he may receive complaints that are more in my bailiwick. We will ensure that our processes, our intake, is integrated so people aren't stuck in the middle there somehow.”

Overall, Foster said the hotline received a wide range of calls when it began operating, but now the calls tend to be more focused on what the line is intended to deal with.

“Initially with our hotline, we had all sorts of types of complaints, but that has settled down for the most part,” he said. “Now we're getting questions about more process related complaints in terms of where do I go?”

In 2016, about 20 per cent of the calls required further action, but that's down to 10 per cent today, he said. The line has also received complaints from city staff related to the #metoo movement he said, about allegations of harassment and related issues.

“Like all organizations, from time to time we get those calls, and the issues that arise that are best dealt with under our discrimination and harassment policy,” Foster said. “We refer those items back to the complainants with detailed instructions on how to file a complaint under that policy, and to date that's that's been effective.

“I do work with the director of human resources to ensure that (those calls) are tracked and followed up on a timely basis, even if they are unsupported complaints. As an employer, the city has an obligation to look into those on a timely basis.” 

After two years of operation, Foster said he will present a report to the audit committee in June evaluating the line, which was approved as a three-year pilot project.

When asked whether there is a case of significant wrongdoing that was exposed as a result of the hotline, Foster said that's the sort of thing he'll cover in his June presentation.

“We will provide a fulsome response at our June 4th audit committee meeting in terms of what are the general pluses and minuses of having a hotline,” he said. 

But he said the line does offer the public a way to ensure their concerns are dealt with in a timely manner, and that however the complaint was handled is a matter of public record.

“There's some comfort in that (hotline) structure, in terms of both a timely response, as well as the quality of the investigation. In the absence of the hotline, you might not see that, and you could see some confusion and lack of a timely resolution.” 


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Darren MacDonald

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