Burlington Ward 4 councillor docked five days pay, vows to not run for re-election
Published April 20, 2022 at 4:58 pm
Burlington city councillor Shawna Stolte has decided not to run for re-election after she was hit with a five-day pay penalty at last night’s council meeting.
Stolte was reprimanded for twice breaking confidentiality rules regarding in-camera discussions about the City of Burlington’s negotiations for the purchase of the Robert Bateman High School site from the local school board.
Two councillors, Kelvin Galbraith and Rory Nisan, filed a complaint with the City’s independent Integrity Commissioner about the breach, alleging two other offences as well.
In an 11-page report, the commissioner found two of the complaints were valid, despite also mildly critiquing the closed-door policy decisions themselves.
The other six members of the council, including Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, fully supported the sanction and the idea of actually increasing the penalty, following Stolte’s lack of apology and contrition, was bantered about informally.
Near the end of Tuesday’s meeting, Stolte, a first-term councillor, said she would not run for re-election in Ward 4, despite declaring she would on March 2.
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“I’m not prepared to apologize. I have been open and transparent throughout this whole year about my concerns of going into closed session and not giving appropriate transparent information to the public.
“I’m not meant for this. This is not a process I believe in. It’s not a process I can support. I guess the end of my comment is to retract the statement I’ve made about running again. I will not be running for a second term of council. This is not an avenue for me to do good work in the community.”
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