Whitby Mayor Don Mitchell yesterday issued an open letter in which he refuted allegations that the work culture at the town hall is toxic.
“The comments of Councillor [Rhonda] Mulcahy at last night’s meeting are concerning. This council has been divided since the beginning and the root of the problem is personal conflicts between certain members of council. I’ve tried my best to address these conflicts with little success. I organized a council retreat to try and reunite council and help us focus on our purpose and our goals. The most important job of all members of council is to build a united team with a positive vision and this council has not succeeded,” said Mitchell.
He said he has received complaints from members of council about other members. Councillors Mulcahy and Roy have also made statements to the effect the culture among staff at town hall is toxic and that staff members are turning to them as help instead of to our CAO and head of human resources. “I asked them to provide details so I could investigate, but none were provided. They made similar complaints to our CAO, but as in my case, they were asked to provide details and failed to provide them. We had a meeting in 2019 with Councillors Mulcahy, Roy and Lee, the CAO, head of human resources and myself and they raised similar concerns about the workplace. They were asked by the head of HR to provide details to support an investigation but, again, failed to provide any.”
He referred to a comment about a staff member made two years ago, and said he had no personal recollection, but the CAO advises it was an inappropriate attempt at a joke. The staff member discussed it with the CAO and decided to take no action. No one said anything to me. “The staff member mentioned it to Councillor Mulcahy. I have a strong and positive working relationship with the staff member and she’s very upset that Councillor Mulcahy would victimize her by taking a private matter that she had resolved and introduce it publicly for her own ends.”