Consultant investigating harassment claim against Marystown mayor

The Marystown town council is in the midst of more controversy: the town has hired a consulting firm to investigate a harassment complaint against Mayor Sam Synard.

The complaint was filed by a town employee in mid-January. It's one of four complaints the consultant will be investigating, two of which are against Mayor Synard.

• Marystown mayor says town council is dysfunctional

In an interview with CBC News, Synard was adamant that he did not harass the staff member in question.

Synard said the complaint came after he called the employee and asked why he was spending so much time at the town's new recreation centre, which is now the YMCA's responsibility.

Synard said he asked a "very reasonable question" and is "confident [he] didn't harass anybody."

"The nature of the complaint in front of us is so trivial I think it makes a mockery of the entire harassment policy that towns and workplaces adopt," Synard said.

"If that's harassment,let's put swinging doors out by the Confederation Building. Because nobody would ever go to work."

Synard said he would usually go through the town's chief administrative officer to ask a question, but that he was on leave.

Mayor acting unprofessionally, councillor says

Coun.Lisa Slaney, however, said it's "unprofessional and unethical" for the mayor to be speaking about the harassment allegations while the investigation is ongoing.

"When someone is willing to step up and speak to such matters that they feel that they've been violated in some way shape or form or harassed, we need to respect that until all sides of the story have been heard," she said.

"There's always two sides to a story,and we're going to leave it up to the independent consultant to come forward with their findings and report back to us on whether the violation of the policy did occur."

Two complaints filed against Synard

This is the second harassment complaint filed against Synard in the past several months. The first was filed by Coun.Leonard Pittman.The consultant is also investigating a complaint thatSynard filed against Pittman as well an additional complaintfiled by one employeeagainst another.

Slaney said council asked Pittman and Synard to step aside from their positions while the investigation was ongoing, althoughneither has done so.

Sometimes what was acceptable in the past is not acceptable now.- Coun.Lisa Slaney

The town is suspending all professional development for councillors in order to cover the costs of the consultant.

While Synard says the consultant is a waste of funds, Slaney said an independent investigation is extremely important.

"We're doing this to ensure our employees are able to work in a safe, harassment free environment. And that's paramount," said Councillor Lisa Slaney.

"Whether or not we're able to go to [Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador]or something like that is irrelevant."

Council controversy nothing new

The Marystown town council has been embroiled in controversy for the past several months.

In September,Synard called council dysfunctional and said it neededto be dissolved due to personality conflicts.

Synard spoke out after council passed a motion saying that he was in conflict of interest.

A lawyer has since completed an investigation into that issue, the report of which will be publicly released in the coming weeks.

Synard having trouble with change, Slaney says

Slaney said she does not think council is dysfunctional, but said that Synard has had difficulty adjusting to new councillors in the past few years.

"The way you've done business for the past four or five terms is not necessarily how it's going to be when there's new people coming in with new ideas, new experiences. And sometimes people are very resistant to that," she said.

"Sometimes what was acceptable in the past is not acceptable now. A mayor phoning an employee or a director and telling them that they have to do something, that's not acceptable."

The Department of Municipal Affairs has been called to provide training to council next week.