Dryden city council looks at 3 Integrity Commissioner reports

Dryden city council is dealing with not just one, or two, but three integrity commission reports.

All had to do with councillor Ritch Noel.

In each investigation, the Integrity Commissioner Guy Giorno found that councillor Noel did not violate municipal codes of conduct.

Mayor Jack Harrison admits he’s a bit surprised by the finding in the third and final report.

“I know some of the conduct around council members to not use abusive or insulting words and to call somebody a “bully” I thought would have qualified for that, so obviously it’s a pretty high standard to cross,” Harrison told council Monday night.

Harrison says regardless of the findings, he’s concerned about how elected officials treat city staff.

“I just hope from this that we really take a serious look at how we treat our staff. Although we should be attacking ideas, and getting the best ideas out there, but when we criticize staff, we should be very careful. We set a bad precedent.”

Harrison says it gets very difficult to retain and recruit city employees if they are treated badly.

Council only approved two of the Integrity Commissioner’s reports and is hoping for a correction in the second report before approving it.