The city has taken “appropriate action” following an investigation into a photo allegedly showing a community centre worker sleeping on the job, said Toronto spokesperson Wynna Brown.

The picture was taken at Carmine Stefano Community Centre but it’s unclear whether the employee was fired or what the circumstances were since the city policy is not to speak on personnel issues. The name of the employee has not been made public.

“The management review of this matter is complete and appropriate action has been taken,” Brown said.

At a press conference outside the community centre Monday morning, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti says the photo is proof that the city tolerates staff workers who don’t take their jobs seriously.

Describing the photo as “the last straw,” Mammoliti told reporters that more “progressive discipline” of city staff is needed.

“I believe personally that our unions are running the city,” said Mammoliti, a former union leader and NDP MPP.

Mammoliti said he was driven to publicizing the photo, which shows an unidentifiable person with his or her head down on a desk, after four years of receiving complaints but a lack of response by city managers.

“People need to know,” Mammoliti said and, “everyone needs to be accountable.”

The Mammoliti press conference.

Last week, Mayor Rob Ford told reporters he had asked the city’s general manager of parks, forestry and recreation, to look into the issue.

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Ford said he’d like the individual in the picture to be fired, and said the person’s manager should be fired as well if it turned out the employee was sleeping.

Since the photo’s publication, Mammoliti, whose constituency office is in the same Weston Rd. and Sheppard Ave. W. community centre where the photo was taken, said he’s been receiving numerous similar complaints from constituents.

Some — which detail everything from cleanliness to weight room staff sleeping and allowing their friends in free — were included in a package provided to reporters.

Others, he said, were more serious and would be sent to the “appropriate people,” although he declined to comment on the specifics, saying only they were “very serious.”

Mammoliti also shot back at critics who took issue with him publicizing the photo by suggesting it might have been an isolated incident and highlighting images of the councillor himself looking sleepy.

“Nobody should be falling asleep during the day. There is no excuse for it,” he said.

“They can try and post pictures of me yawning in papers after 24-hour budget sessions, they can do all that, but I’m going to hold firm and I’m going to continue taking pictures, I’m going to continue taking the emails and the complaints that come out of the city when it comes to our level of service.”

Ultimately, more documentation is needed, he said, to ensure city staff are providing a better level of service and to ensure the city is able to deal with staff should issues arise.

“Our employees are managing themselves,” he said. “We need to do better.”

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And although it might be difficult to get staff to come forward and report such instances, Mammoliti said it will be treated like a “whistleblower situation” and names will be kept confidential.

But asking workers to submit videos or evidence of people not doing their jobs properly isn’t the answer, shot back CUPE 79 president Tim Maguire in a statement released after Mammoliti’s press conference that called the tactic “bullying” and suggested performance issues might be related to “flatlined” budgets.

“If we take Councillor Mammoliti at his word that this entire affair stems from a number of constituent complaints about service levels at this particular centre, then we as a community need to talk about why residents aren’t getting the service levels they expect and deserve,” he said.

With files from Daniel Dale