In a tense climate, the municipal council adopted by a majority, Monday evening, a motion of non-confidence in the place of the mayor of Sorel-Tracy, Serge Péloquin, considering that the reasons invoked to monitor and suspend the clerk of the City were not justified.
“Advisors can no longer, in these circumstances, trust Mr. Serge Péloquin. […] Through his actions, Mr. Péloquin has shown that he puts his opinions and personal interests ahead of those of the City and its citizens,” said Councilor Patrick Péloquin during the vote of non-confidence in the mayor.
“What a hypocritical speech! exclaimed Mayor Serge Péloquin after reading the motion. “Human Resources knew about it. Mr. [Patrick] Péloquin, who was director at the time, knew about it. […] So it’s not something that was improvised. So I find your remarks a little out of place. Luckily the Municipal Commission will shed light on this story and luckily people will be met. »
At the heart of this case: the surveillance to which the City Clerk, René Chevalier, was subjected. Remember that on April 19, at the end of the municipal council meeting, the city manager had informed the elected officials that an electronic listening device had been discovered in the clerk’s office. The mayor had suspended him without pay until an investigation was carried out. It was ultimately the mayor who was suspected of having spied on the executive employee because he blamed him for his lack of loyalty.
Registrar reinstated
During the municipal council meeting, Mayor Péloquin tabled the report on this monitoring, but its content was not disclosed. The mayor also filed a legal opinion in connection with this file. He would have liked this document to be made public, but for lack of support from the municipal council, he did not succeed.
Details on the City Clerk’s surveillance operation were therefore not disclosed. Remember that the Sûreté du Québec has opened an investigation into this case, as has the Commission municipale du Québec.
The municipal council also adopted by majority a motion to order the reinstatement of the clerk in his duties and the reimbursement of his salary as well as his social benefits which he could not receive during his suspension. Only Mayor and Councilor Jocelyn Mondou did not support the resolution.
The council meeting ended abruptly when several elected officials got up to leave the premises, exasperated by the mayor’s remarks.
During a telephone interview with To have to, Serge Péloquin argued that the City’s Human Resources Department was aware of the clerk’s surveillance and that the investigation was taking place in due form because the City wanted to collect “fair and irrefutable” evidence against the employee. -frame. “But there is a person who sank the investigation that was being done on the clerk and put it in the public square,” lamented the mayor.
Serge Péloquin affirms that as mayor, he had to assume his role of surveillance and governance. He says he is convinced that the investigation by the Commission municipale du Québec will be able to shed light on the events and will prove him right.
“It’s a small crisis to go through. I have not been [reconnu] still guilty of nothing. I was not fired. I am the mayor of the city. If my counsel disagrees with me, that’s their choice. Me, I move forward and I make the City work,” he said.