Most of a report into dysfunction at Nipawin Town Hall has now been mostly unredacted. (file photo)

By Susan McNeil

Nipawin Town Hall

Report shows depth of former dysfunction at Nipawin Town Hall

Jul 8, 2024 | 4:16 PM

Accused of modifying the agenda herself, to belittling staff members and cutting off councillor’s microphones if she didn’t like what was being said, its alleged former Nipawin Mayor Rennie Harper exercised far too much control over council and town hall operations, a recently unredacted report shows.

That is just a portion of the details of how town hall ran during Harper’s seven-year tenure as mayor, which began in 2016 and ended in 2023.

“All councillors have mentioned instances where the mayor crossed the line into administration,” reads the report. “As one said, ‘I clearly understand my role; we all do. We’re not to get into staff business.’

These occurrences have kept staff, as one councillor put it, ‘on edge.’”

Its taken months for the report to be released in what is close to its entirety. When council first received it in July of last year, Harper resigned at the same meeting where it was presented, prompting council not to release it.

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A member of the public appealed and a heavily redacted version was released. Now, following a ruling by the provincial privacy commissioner, the full report minus the names and positions of staff and councillors was made public. paNOW received a copy of the report from the Town of Nipawin.

In addition to conflicts with certain staff members – described in the report by multiple witnesses as targeted harassment – councillors did not like how Harper managed relationships with the Chamber of Commerce, some community boards, the horticultural society and even the RCMP.

“One councillor stated, “Are we effective? Right now, in this moment, no. We won’t be able to move forward until this is cleaned up. This is overwhelming our lives. This review is the most relief I’ve felt in months,” stated the report.

The so-called Bloom Report authors interviewed many staff members and all of council. The entire council felt negative perceptions of town hall would only be resolved by Harper’s resignation.

“When asked why council has allowed this situation to persist for so long, one council member stated that the interim (redacted) contributed through inaction. This councillor feels that the current (redacted) can manage the situation and the mayor.”

As far as staff members went, while some said they had no issues working with Harper, they could see how behaviour like “eye-rolling, criticism, nitpicking and grammar” could be difficult for others to cope with. On occasion, she would slap her hand on the table or stomp her feet, the report said.

One staff member said their interactions with Harper constituted bullying and harassment that went on for years. The mayor would belittle and embarrass her in public and pick apart reports for grammar, spelling and even format, the report said.

“I have no other explanation other than the mayor does not like me. I’m nervous about going to council meetings and work very hard to make sure my reports are to the mayor’s standards,” said the member. “Administratively, I’ve always gotten good reviews from my boss. I do not know what I’ve done wrong in the mayor’s eyes, but I try to do a good job and love what I do. I’m scared of losing my job.”

That staff person was demoted during an organizational re-structuring and also said the interim (redacted) replied that “no one is on suicide watch” when staff discussed morale.

Multiple staff said Harper, despite being female herself, seemed to target negative behaviour toward other women.

“Women are particularly subject to the aggression and inappropriateness (criticism and nitpicking) by the mayor. The mayor reacts very differently to women than she does to men. I’m unsure why, but it is apparent that women who present reports are treated differently than the men.”

Staff pointed out councillors did not know how much information Harper controlled.

“I do not believe council was aware the mayor would control the information they got to see. She would often remove items from the agenda. She would also ask for agenda items to be rewritten and or revised if she did not agree with administration’s recommendations,” said one staff member.

“I am very well aware that the mayor was directly involved in my demotion. This is a breach of conduct and defamation of character.”

Another staff member said the organization would not succeed if Harper’s behaviour was allowed to continue. “We are currently under what I would categorize as ‘a dictatorship, run by fear and criticism.’”

The report made several recommendations, including that Harper make a public apology for her behaviour.

While there was much blamed heaped on Harper herself, some criticism – and a recommendation from the report authors – said that council itself should have acted much sooner.

“I believe council has to take some responsibility for the mayor’s behaviour as they could have stopped it. The mayor was enabled by their non-action. I do think they’re trying to do their best to fix the situation now and it is appreciated,” one staff member said.

Another former staff said there should be a shared responsibility for the situation.

“Council somewhat enabled the behaviours of the mayor and council should hold themselves accountable.”

Current Mayor Marlon Zacharias said the biggest tool there is to holding any council accountable is the code of ethics bylaw, something all municipalities are required to have.

“So when we do see, maybe one of the members starting to cross a line in some way, the rest of council should be there to pull them back and say no, we can’t do this or no, you can’t act that way,” he said.

Zacharias said in his view, the mood at town hall is upbeat and positive now and he believes they have recovered as an organization in the year since Harper resigned.

“We had some some issues in the past, but we’re beyond that now and we’re moving forward in a really good way and and it’s been well received by by everybody, you know both on the administration and staff side as well as our other community partners, municipalities.”

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com