Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Justin Altmann once again has the right to talk to his town’s staff and frequent its offices after an Ontario Superior Court judge struck down a bylaw preventing him from communicating with employees or holding keys or access cards to its facilities.

Justice Phillip Sutherland released a brief decision on Friday, saying there was some urgency to settle the matter because of the upcoming Oct. 22 municipal election. He said his reasons for the decision would follow.

The Star was unable to reach Altmann, who is running for re-election, or his lawyer on Sunday.

The town council approved the bylaw in March, barring the mayor from all town facilities, including parks and libraries — anywhere he might encounter staff — except for council meetings.

Council took the steps after Altmann refused to apologize to staff for a creating a mural in his office washroom that included names and photos of town staff, councillors and others.

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The wall was among various complaints from municipal staff about the mayor. Police cleared him of an allegation of calling for town CAO Rob Raycroft’s head on a platter. That allegation surfaced as part of a harassment lawsuit by a former employee, Tamara Carlson, who worked as the mayor’s executive assistant.

Altmann’s tenure has included an unusual public wedding, questions about his spending practices and a public fundraising campaign to pay for a replica chain of office.

In June, the town announced it would take legal action to force Altmann to return confidential information and personnel records that were being distributed to members of the public. The information contained overtime pay and employment histories.

On Sunday, Councillor Iain Lovatt, who is running against Altmann for mayor this fall, said council acted on the best legal advice available when it passed the bylaw.

“We were acting in the best interest of staff, so I feel like we acted appropriately, and clearly the justice has determined we acted outside our authority and I accept that,” Lovatt said, adding that there will likely be some discussion of the matter at Tuesday’s council meeting.

One of the women pictured on Altmann’s washroom wall said council must consider appealing Friday’s court decision and take immediate steps to protect municipal staff.

“I don’t think anybody should be going into their workplace having to feel any need of worry or being uncomfortable. It isn’t right,” said Darlene Shaw, who formerly sat on the town’s Heritage Advisory Committee and the Downtown Stouffville Working Group. “The town needs to put some sort of process together immediately so that those people who are working there are protected or know that they have rights.”

Legally the path forward is clearer, but the town still has an ethical obligation to protect its staff, said Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, a local political observer, who ran for mayor in 2014 and was also named on Altmann’s washroom wall.

“The integrity commissioner was pretty clear that it’s not just sanctions but remedial action to get some kind of reconciliation between mayor and staff, and to bring this place into a safer kind of environment. These more extreme recommendations, which were not so much sanctions as remedial actions, were in that spirit. They were related to the other obligations the town CAO has — legal obligations too — of creating a harassment-free environment,” he said.

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Altmann’s lawyer, Mauro Marchioni, argued in court Aug. 28 that council exceeded its jurisdiction and contravened the Ontario Municipal Act when it handed down the restrictions following two ethics complaints against the mayor.

The arguments focused on whether remedial actions proposed by the town’s integrity commissioner, Suzanne Craig, were in fact actions or penalties.

The Municipal Act only permits council to penalize code of conduct violations by reprimanding the member and suspending their pay, argued Marchioni. Altmann received both penalties, including the suspension of seven months’ pay.