Mount Pearl wraps up probe into Kent’s conduct as CAO

By Craig Westcott/February 24, 2023

The City of Mount Pearl has concluded the investigation into its former chief administrative officer, Steve Kent, but is not releasing the report and councillors aren’t conducting interviews about it, they said Tuesday.

Deputy Mayor Nicole Kieley did, however, issue a statement at this week’s public council meeting acknowledging the end of the inquiry, prior to making a motion to pay the final bill of $87,946 from Lisa M. Gallivan Professional Services, the labour lawyer hired to look into Kent’s treatment of staff at City Hall.

Gallivan was hired after council received complaints from staff in the fall of 2019 that Kent, a former mayor, MHA and PC cabinet minister, had bullied them in the course of his new $200,000 per year position as the City’s head bureaucrat. During Kent’s tenure, the City lost a number of senior managers who left to take jobs in other organizations.

Kent was discharged by council following an investigation that was conducted while he was on a nine-month paid leave of absence, though he maintains he quit before council could fire him.  Kent filed a suit against the City seeking damages for wrongful dismissal. The City countersued seeking damages and costs related to the investigation into his conduct, as well as some $18,000 Kent spent on tuition for a management program. At one point, the Province’s Privacy Commissioner was even dragged into the imbroglio when staff complained council should not have given Kent the signed copies and anonymous messages outlining their complaints against him.

At least one part of the Kent saga was put to bed last year when a court ruled the City was in the wrong to read Kent’s facebook messages to two councillors allegedly coaching them on how to respond to the investigation into his conduct. The messages were displayed on Kent’s laptop that had been left in his office while he was on leave and were used to evict councillors Andrea Power and Andrew Ledwell from office.

The status of Kent’s suit against the City and its suit against him, meanwhile, is unclear, with neither Kent nor the City taking interviews this week. The Pearl News left phone and e-mail messages with the former CAO, who spent part of the past week campaigning in Central Newfoundland with federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, but he didn’t reply.

Judging by the tenor of Deputy Mayor Kieley’s brief comments, however, council appears to be sticking to its position that Kent was fired fairly.

“The investigator reviewed allegations and determined that the violation of the City’s respectful workplace policy and procedures occurred,” Kieley said Tuesday. “It remains the City of Mount Pearl’s position that the investigation is a human resource matter and the details of the report, or its findings, will not be discussed publicly. With this process now concluded, the City would like to acknowledge the impact the investigation has had on our employees. The City remains steadfast in ensuring (a) respectful workplace environment, (and) will remain diligent in upholding policies and procedures that safeguard the health, safety and welfare of employees. Furthermore, the City pledges to continue to lead the way in advocating for change at the provincial and legislative level, such as our involvement in the recent development of our municipal conduct legislation.”

Kieley admitted the investigation was costly.

“To maintain full transparency, the City had publicly documented the cost of this investigation from the start,” she said. “As of February 16, 2023, the City of Mount Pearl has spent over $325,000 on professional fees related to the investigation into the former CAO. The City would like to thank all parties involved for their patience throughout this process. Specifically, the City would like to acknowledge the difficult decision of employees choosing to come forward. Your concerns were heard and the changes made going forward are a result of your courage. The City will not be commenting further on details of the report.”

Mayor Dave Aker said council makes it a practice from time to time, in the interests of accountability and transparency, to call attention to significant payments being processed through the City’s accounts, as in this case with the final payment to Gallivan.

He asked if any other councillors wanted to comment on the issue. Only councillor Mark Rice raised his hand.

Rice pointed out that he had been elected as a new councillor and came to City Hall while the investigation was already underway.

“I look at the way everything goes with a respectful workplace, and we all work in an environment where everyone should be respected, co-worker to co-worker, manager to co-worker, or co-worker to manager,” Rice said. “Wherever you are in the system, you have to have respect in the workplace and you have to respect the way that we carry ourselves. I work as a manager with Eastern Health, and nobody wants to see anything go to the extreme part, and in my opinion, this went right to the limit. You always try to get together and come up with a solution before it goes this far. But in this case, the investigator had to be brought in under these conditions and a non-biased person was appointed here. But I am happy to say that the conclusion is done, because the residents of Mount Pearl need to know how much was spent on this investigation… And hopefully we can move forward now with better days ahead.”