Springwater mayor speaks out about disrespectful comment made after county council meeting

Oro-Medonte’s mayor has publicly apologized for the first time, after making a disrespectful comment towards Springwater mayor Jennifer Coughlin following a County of Simcoe meeting last month.

On Feb. 25, councillors were preparing to take part in a flag raising ceremony to mark the County’s ITSTARTS campaign, which aims to promote acting against discrimination and racism in the region.

“At the time, I had requested that they come out to the flagpole and at that time, the response from mayor Greenlaw was, ‘are you going to dance on that pole for us,’” Coughlin told CTV News on Monday. “Obviously I was taken back by it, I let him know I would be walking away from that.”

Coughlin, feeling the comment was disrespectful, opted to not participate in the photo opportunity.

She later called Greenlaw and asked him to make a public apology.

“It is important to me that he is held accountable,” Coughlin said. “As I felt his comments were made on the county floor, his apology should be made on the county floor.”

On March 11, both mayors were present at County Council, however, an apology was never made publicly.

Council did meet in a closed-doors session at one point, but councillors are not permitted to disclose what topics were discussed in those meetings.

While Coughlin said she thought the issue could be resolved between them, her disappointment led her to file an official complaint with the integrity commissioner and Ontario Ombudsman.

CTV News reached out to the County of Simcoe for comment earlier this month when it became aware of the incident.

“I am aware of an incident that occurred following a recent County Council meeting. I was not present during the incident,” said County Warden Basil Clarke in a statement. “The County does not condone incidents that do not represent the values of our corporation. While the county has stringent corporate policies in place to support and protect our staff, the actions of County Councillors are governed by a Council Code of Conduct.”

Warden Clarke’s statement never addressed the incident directly, nor the individuals involved by name.

Coughlin told CTV News she was happy to let the internal process continue as it was, until an anonymous email forced her hand last week.

Several media outlets, council members and Premier Doug Ford were included on the email from an unknown individual claiming to be a County of Simcoe worker.

In addition to calling mayor Greenlaw’s comments sexist, the email also took issue with Coughlin for not speaking out.

In an interview with CTV News, Mayor Greenlaw said he was extremely apologetic for his actions.

“I’m remorseful for my comments and I regret doing them,” he said. “Believe me, it has been on my mind now for almost a month.”

Greenlaw was asked why he was apologizing now, nearly one month later, rather than at council as discussed with mayor Coughlin.

According to the Oro-Medonte mayor, Coughlin had suggested a vague apology that didn’t directly address her, or the incident was fine.

“My concern is that it would just raise more questions than answers,” Greenlaw said. “Eventually it would have to come out or would likely come out.”

Coughlin confirmed she was accepting of a vague apology but said that any comment made by Greenlaw was up to his own volition.

“If he wanted to address me in my title and acknowledge what had been said, that would have been to his discretion,” she said. “But I would have been satisfied with him acknowledging it vaguely.”

Greenlaw described the relationship between he and Coughlin as professional and good-natured, but admitted he has hard work to do to rectify the issue.

“It is my responsibility as the leader of this township and member of County Council, to take ownership of my comment, embrace the mistake, learn from it and make sure I’m cognizant not to make the same mistake again,” he added.

Greenlaw said that he welcomes the integrity commissioner’s review of the incident.

CTV News reached out to the County of Simcoe on Monday but was told it would not be commenting further at this time.