All he had to do was say sorry.

But now the mayor of Whitchurch-Stouffville could be barred from town offices, banned from talking to municipal staff and docked up to six months’ pay — if council adopts recommendations put forth in two new ethics investigation reports released Friday evening.

In her two last reports to council as integrity commissioner for the town, Suzanne Craig addressed two complaints that have come forward against mayor Justin Altmann in the few months since she found that an unusual wall of pictures he built in his office washroom was akin to “workplace harassment.”

The first investigation dealt with the mayor’s disclosure of in-camera information during a radio interview. The second complaint dealt with Justin Altmann’s refusal over a 90-day period to apologize to staff for the wall of pictures, despite the wishes of council.

Read more:

Stouffville mayor has yet to apologize for CSI-style wall

Here’s who’s on Stouffville mayor’s ‘creepy’ washroom wall of photos

Stouffville residents raise alarm over ‘CSI-style’ wall

In both cases, Craig said Altmann’s actions contravened the town’s code of conduct — and she asked council to consider suspension of payment for up to 90 days for each, the maximum penalty allowed under the Municipal Act.

But she took a tougher position on his refusal to apologize, citing the impact it has had on town staff and the reputation of the town.

“The Town Council edict in which it requested that the Mayor apologize to the complainant was intended as corrective action to repair the damaged relationship between the Mayor, the public, staff, and the Town. However, the Mayor’s conduct in response to this imposed corrective action has instead further damaged the Town,” Craig wrote in her report, published just days before his baby shower, which is open to the public. In 2016, the mayor invited the entire town to his wedding.

“The failure to offer an appropriate apology to a staff person who was found to have been a victim of workplace harassment as found by the Independent Workplace Investigator’s Report, has seriously undermined the principle of the primacy of Council and the respect for staff at the town,” wrote Craig in her report.

“Such conduct is not acceptable and falls well short of the standard of conduct expected by the public of a public official, head of Council.”

In her recommendations to be considered at a council meeting Tuesday evening, Craig asks councillors to issue a formal reprimand to the mayor and to take additional “remedial actions” that include sanctions, such as:

Communicate with municipal staff solely by email to an email address to be provided. No other form of communication shall be permitted nor responded to;

Immediately return his keys and Access Card to the municipal offices;

Limit access to the municipal offices only to pick up his council packages or make bill payments at the front desk and to attend council meetings.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Neither council members, nor Altmann responded to a request for comment.

But in Craig’s recent report, Altmann responded by providing his lawyer’s comments about the initial investigation into the wall, which suggested the last probe was biased and lacked natural justice. The lawyer asked that the entire investigation be reviewed.

“Until such review is completed I believe it both fair and reasonable that no further punitive measures are taken,” Altmann said in response to the complaint.

Last September, Stouffville councillors adopted recommendations, which included, apologizing to staff and losing a month’s pay, around $5,076.33 (the equivalent of a month of town pay and a month of car allowance).

In her current report, Craig also talked about how staff who spoke up about the wall have suffered over the past few months.

“The experience of reporting the harassment and coming forward with a code complaint or co-operating with the Integrity Commissioner may have been as difficult or worse than the initial harassment experienced by the staff person,” wrote Craig. “In many cases, the individual who raised allegations of harassment under the Code has experienced negative impacts on their work life, personal life and health on top of the immediate challenges of harassment at the Town.”

“Some who have come forward have experienced subtle reprisals that prevent them from being fully productive in the workplace,” she wrote.

Craig also took exception with the way the mayor has dealt with the findings from her initial investigation and how his behaviour has affected staff.

“Staff has approached me to discuss how the Mayor’s refusal to apologize and manner in which he refused had affected them. Staff have viewed the Mayor’s behavior and manner in which he refused to apologize, which has been widely publicized in the media through his various radio interviews, as an indication that “nothing has changed” and they have therefore, decided to put up with a toxic work environment while actively job searching, and have resolved to leave once they have found new jobs,” wrote Craig in her report.

“Individuals have stated to me that they ‘were looking for a sincere apology …’ and ‘sincerity on his part.’ ”

“Mayor Altmann has publicly stated that he intends to seek judicial review of Council’s decision. However, to date, the Respondent has not taken steps to have Council’s decision considered by a court.”