Mayor hopes for tamer meetings after outspoken Portugal Cove-St. Philip's councillor is suspended
CBC
The tension around the council table in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's has been laid bare in recent weeks following the release of two independent reports and the suspension — during a highly charged meeting on Oct. 2 — of outspoken town councillor Darryl Harding.
Now the mayor is hopeful that decorum will return and stress levels for elected leaders and employees will decline now that Harding is on the sidelines once again.
"Darrell Harding is a brilliant man with regards to the [municipal] plan ... That's the only thing that he's brilliant in. He's not brilliant in respecting others," said Carol McDonald, who's been mayor of this large, well-to-do town on the outskirts of St. John's since 2017.
"I would prefer to spend my last year [in municipal politics] in peace," McDonald replied when asked whether she is OK with Harding returning to his council seat in January after serving his three-month suspension.
Harding's suspension equates to a financial penalty of nearly $6,000, but the mayor is hoping his absence will be even longer.
Along with suspending Harding, councillors also voted to ask the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court to declare Harding's council seat vacant for final year of the current four-year term.
"I just hope that the judge sees it the way we do and the investigator saw it," said McDonald.
Some councillors and employees have complained that Harding is causing turmoil inside the chamber by constantly interrupting, monopolizing debate to the point where meetings routinely last four hours, and singling out chief administrative officer Jody Murray.
His behaviour during a September 2023 meeting prompted the investigations.
"He interrupted somebody, me maybe 10 times, but some councillor ... 24, 26 times. And that was the straw that broke camel's back," said McDonald.
"I haven't always been respected and, I think that came out in the report," added Murray, who has served as the town's CAO for more than two years.
Both reports — one by Toronto law firm MNP LLP and another by the St. John's office of McInnes Cooper — found that Harding's behaviour equates to workplace harassment.
"Despite the inherent and expected conflict of municipal politics, these individuals are entitled to a respectful work environment, free from harassment. That has not been the case," reads the McInnes Cooper report.
The MNP report determined that Harding's behaviour toward Murray met "the threshold of workplace harassment" under the province's Occupational Health and Safety Act and the town's code of conduct.
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