Councillor Jay Brennan’s donation prompts discussion on council process
SMITHS FALLS — Suspended Smiths Falls veteran councillor Jay Brennan has offered to donate the equivalent of his 45-day council salary to a project by the Heritage House Museum, prompting discussion at council about whether the municipality should have followed a more formal process.
Brennan’s written correspondence was brought forward for information at the Jan. 26 council meeting. He remains suspended from attending meetings after council determined he had breached the municipality’s code of conduct following inappropriate comments captured on a hot mic following the Jan. 5 council meeting.
In the Jan. 22 email, Brennan again apologized for his conduct.
“With respect to my Code of Conflict (sic) violation and Council’s subsequent suspension of my meeting attendance for 45 days, I would like to again apologize to my colleagues, staff and the taxpayers for my behaviour,” Brennan wrote.
Councillor Jay Brennan noted in his email that because council’s ability to impose sanctions is limited under the Municipal Act, he had decided to make a voluntary donation equal to his 45-day suspension.
Based on the town’s most recent statement of remuneration, Smiths Falls councillors earned just over $19,000 in annual pay. Calculated on a daily basis, 45 days of council remuneration would amount to roughly $2,400.
“I feel in my heart this is the right thing to do given the circumstances,” Brennan wrote, adding that he requested the letter be placed on the agenda as correspondence because he is unable to attend council meetings during the suspension period.
Coun. Chris McGuire said the situation highlighted concerns about how council handled the matter earlier in January.
He said he had received negative feedback from residents after council chose to address the code of conduct issue internally rather than through the Integrity Commissioner process, which he described as “more formal” and “more costly.”
McGuire said that, in hindsight, it may have been better to follow the established process, adding that the proposed donation did not make sense to him and was outside the municipality’s formal conduct framework.
Councillor Steve Robinson also received a 15-day suspension in the same matter.
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