Coun. Niels Konge has been reprimanded by a special committee of council for failing to treat city employees “in a courteous manner.”
Dec. 11, 2017
The censure, handed down after council adopted the 2018 city budget Monday night, marked the resolution of an ongoing dispute involving Konge, unnamed city workers and Mayor Mark Heyck that saw complaints lodged against the councillor and the mayor.
A conduct review committee comprising four Yellowknife residents and couns. Julian Morse and Linda Bussey, was struck in October to investigate the complaints and recommend potential disciplinary actions.
The committee's recommendations were delivered to council Monday and among them was a recommendation that Konge be censured by council as an “expression of disapproval or condemnation” of his actions.
The censure carries no legal or civil penalties.
The complaint against the mayor was dismissed.
A second complaint against Konge, which alleged he “breached the ethical principles of responsibility to society by abusing his authority,” was also dismissed.
Konge said he is not surprised he got the censure.
He is “shocked,” however, that the committee found no fault with the mayor.
Prior to the establishment of the conduct review committee, a third party was hired to investigate allegations that Konge mistreated city staff.
The mayor “engaged in an investigation of me without the knowledge of any other councillors,” Konge said Tuesday.
“That is the part that I think is wrong.”
Konge says the independent investigation prompted him to file a complaint against the mayor.
Heyck, he said, “spent $27,000 investigating me, and in order to defend myself, I had to spend my own money.”
At Monday night's council meeting, Coun. Adrian Bell said he was glad the mayor was exonerated, but believes Heyck made “an error in judgment,” when he pursued an independent investigation into Konge without input from council.
“Although it may not have been a violation of the rules of conduct, (it) has had a negative impact on council,” said Bell.
He said the mayor should have known that striking a conduct review committee to look into the complaints against Konge, as was done in October, was the most reasonable course of action.
Had the mayor gone this route two years ago, said Bell, “it would have been far less traumatic for all involved.”
It is unclear exactly what role the mayor played in the independent investigation into Konge.
Neither the city nor the chair of a conduct review committee, lawyer Sheldon Toner, would offer details about the incidents that sparked the complaints against Konge and the mayor.
Konge has said city staff filed a number of complaints against him.
“(They) just blast out a whole bunch of allegations and see if anything sticks,” he told Yellowknifer in October.
Konge said one of the complaints arose from an incident at a job site in 2015.
He said a city inspector was telling his junior staff to “change stuff” and wasn't wearing the proper protective gear.
Konge said he “got really pissed off” at the inspector, yelled at him, and kicked him off the work site.
Coun. Shauna Morgan believes Konge used his “position of power to intimidate and shame” city staff, and that his actions amounted to an “abuse of power.”
Konge, she said Tuesday, “verbally harassed staff as part of his mission to force change at the planning and lands department.”
She said his harassing behaviour extended beyond one particular incident.
Morgan wants to see the code of conduct revised to clarify what constitutes an abuse of power.
The committee recommended a review of the Workplace Conflict Resolution/Anti-Harassment Policy to include clear rules for reporting and investigating future complaints.