The mayor of Saint-Placide, Daniel Laviolette, fiercely opposed, on Wednesday, the possible supervision of the human resources of his municipality, a recommendation of the Commission municipale du Québec (CMQ) following a report by devastating investigation.
Mr. Laviolette “urges the Minister not to issue a ministerial decree in this case,” said the mayor’s office in a press release at the end of the afternoon.
The CMQ recommended to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, to put the human resources of this village in the Laurentians under supervision. Decisions concerning the appointment, suspension without pay or dismissal of officers or municipal employees would thus come under the control of the CMQ.
Minister Laforest’s office had not yet announced its decision early Wednesday evening.
Mayor Laviolette “will not hesitate to act in the event of a takeover by the Commission municipale du Québec, because he is convinced that his administration has made responsible decisions,” warned his cabinet.
The CMQ’s investigation report makes very harsh findings on the way Saint-Placide handled the file of an employee who was the subject of psychological harassment complaints.
This report is “biased” and “suggests an obvious bias”, because it “only takes up the claims of opponents of the municipal administration”, retorted the mayor’s office.
“The municipal council followed an appropriate approach and held a unanimous vote in order to resolve a serious problem that was created by the previous municipal administration,” said Mr. Laviolette.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars
“The Municipality has made several major errors regarding the reinstatement of a dismissed employee. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds have been spent without a solid foundation,” the CMQ wrote to the mayor of Saint-Placide on Tuesday.
“We consider that this is an abusive use of public funds and a serious case of mismanagement,” argued the CMQ in support of the guardianship.
“My wish is that the recommendation be heard by the Minister, and that she implement it,” commented Councilor Marie-Ève D’Amour in a telephone interview Wednesday noon.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARIE-ÈVE D’AMOUR
Marie-Ève D’Amour, municipal councilor in Saint-Placide.
The report of the CMQ’s Municipal Integrity Investigations and Prosecutions Department, released on Tuesday, sparked many comments on the Solidarité Saint-Placide Facebook page.
“The amounts, the rumors we heard, all that is in the report! exclaimed Sébastien Poirier, a resident of Saint-Placide reached by telephone in the morning. Mr. Poirier had asked questions at the last council meeting, without obtaining a satisfactory answer in his view. “For the good of the citizens, I could not have asked for a better report. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SÉBASTIEN POIRIER
Sébastien Poirier, resident of Saint-Placide.
The employee dismissed by the previous city council in 2019 challenged her dismissal before the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT).
After the 2021 elections, where only two members of the previous council (including Mme D’Amour) were re-elected, “a few members of the new board, including a person who is related to the employee and who had worked for many years with her, had given themselves the mandate to ‘settle’ the file”, relates the report of the Directorate of Investigations.
Three resolutions were thus adopted in September 2022. One authorizes the reinstatement of the employee, the other two are of a financial nature. The first is to allocate half a million dollars “as an installment payment in a dispute in the [TAT] and the second to authorize a loan settlement of $800,000 over 10 years “for the payment of fees, legal costs and court judgment”.
The 2023 budget for this municipality of 1,800 inhabitants is $3.3 million.
“It is the citizens of the Municipality who will pay the bill for this guerrilla warfare which, in the end, will only have resulted in losers”, denounces the report, which is very critical of the three resolutions.
The loan by-law, which had not yet been approved by the Minister, was repealed at the last council meeting. “This file will be treated as abandoned by the municipality and will be closed” upon receipt of the documents, said the Ministry of Municipal Affairs by email.
The sum of $ 500,000 drawn from the surpluses of Saint-Placide, on the other hand, “was received by the employee on October 3, 2022”, reveals the report of the CMQ. “The decision to reinstate the employee was irregular and the process was marred by several major flaws and gross errors,” he concludes.
The Investigations Department does not comment “on the existence, or not, of psychological harassment”. However, she believes that “the Municipality has not put in place reasonable means so that the return of the employee does not compromise the right of municipal employees to work in a healthy environment”.
Three psychological harassment complaints have been filed against the municipality of Saint-Placide since 2013, according to data from the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) obtained by The Press. However, the CNESST did not specify what follow-up was given to these complaints.