A mayor in Renfrew County has had his pay suspended for 180 days after an investigation found he abused the province’s strong mayor powers and bullied, intimidated, and harassed township staff members. A report by the township’s integrity commissioner says that Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards (KHR) Mayor Dave Mayville was willfully blind while improperly enacting strong mayor powers bestowed by the provincial government. The town’s council approved recommendations from the integrity commissioner that the mayor’s pay be suspended for deliberate misinterpretations of legislation and communications to the chief administrative officer (CAO) that reflect a “serious pattern of harassment and intimidation.” A complaint filed on Dec. 10, 2025, claimed that Mayville repeatedly relied on an overly broad and inaccurate interpretation of the strong mayor powers and used them to direct staff, interfere with administrative operations, attempt to override Council-approved processes, and issue instructions that exceed the defined scope of his authority. “It has been a deliberate misuse or misinterpretation of strong mayor powers,” Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming said during a council meeting on Feb. 4. “The mayor has essentially escalated the manner in which he’s attempted to impose these decisions on the council and staff has amounted to bullying, intimidation, and harassment of staff.” The complaint also claimed that Mayville delegated himself as the chief executive officer with administrative control of the municipality. “Our mayor has been using those strong mayor powers to, in our opinion, to advance his own agenda,” Coun. Bil Smith told CTV News Ottawa. The strong mayor powers were extended to townships like Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards in May 2025 to allow heads of council to help achieve the provincial priorities of building 1.5-million new homes by Dec. 31, 2031, and the construction and maintenance of infrastructure to support housing, which includes transit, roads, utilities, and services. Smith says it was later that summer that Mayville began abusing the strong mayor powers. “It was very clear. We knew this; we had all taken the same training. We had all heard the same things,” Smith said. “We even had the ministry come in and give a presentation to council so that everyone on council, including the mayor, heard what the proper use of strong mayor powers were.” “We are a municipality of 2,400 people,” added Coun. Maureen MacMillan. “We are not building more homes. We are not building big infrastructure, and we have no plans on doing that. We got these powers because we have six councillors sitting at our table. “I think for our mayor, the strong mayor powers kind of went right to his head.” A toxic work environment Within the integrity commissioner’s report, Fleming noted that it would have been reasonable for Mayville to seek guidance from someone with expertise before acting on what he believed that strong mayor powers to be but failed to do so. Fleming adds that Mayville then used his authority to bully staff into following his directions, going as far as to threaten their jobs. “(The mayor) increasingly resorted to aggressive, intimidating and bullying tactics to force the CAO (chief administrative officer) to bend to his will. Fortunately for the Township, the CAO did not give in to this campaign of harassment and the threats of employment jeopardy made by the (mayor),” the report stated. “I’ve said at meetings what a toxic work environment it was, especially for our staff,” said MacMillan. “We were very concerned for their mental health, their well-being. It’s unfair. It’s unfortunate. I can’t imagine the level of stress that this puts on our poor staff.” Recommendations for serious breaches Following the investigation by the integrity commissioner, Fleming recommended that Mayville’s pay be suspended for a total of 180 days - 90 days for deliberate misinterpretations of legislation and a subsequent 90 days for communications to the CAO that reflected a serious pattern of harassment and intimidation. “In our view, it’s necessary for a maximum penalty to reflect the seriousness of the nature of the breaches,” said Fleming, presenting the report to council. It was also recommended that Mayville be prohibited from communicating with staff except verbally at Council or committee meetings. The report and its recommendations were accepted and passed by council. “It’s unfortunate that we have to do that, but I think that that’s the only way that we can impress upon the mayor and protect our staff,” said Smith, adding that the mayor is only one vote at the council table, with all council members committed to positive work for the township. “There’s an election coming up in October and I hope people seriously, think long and hard about who they’re voting for and vote in somebody who’s actually going to honour and respect the democratic process and not misuse these strong mayor powers.” Mayville’s response Going forward, Mayville is still permitted to lead council meetings. The mayor told CTV News he wants to continue pushing the township forward. “All of the directives or decisions that I had made were organizational and administrative,” Mayville said in an interview Monday. “Are we behind as far as administratively and as far as the decisions or directives that I gave? Yes, we are. So, what I was trying to do is improve and take us another step forward.” Mayville says municipalities receive no assistance or support from the province when it comes to strong mayor powers and he has not heard from or spoken with the province since the integrity commissioner’s report was released. “The bottom line, what the province has done is given us a tool in the toolbox without a game plan and basically have washed their hands of the situation.” On the findings of bullying, intimidation, and harassment, Mayville gave a short response. “I think at this time, no comment. They’re simply directions or decisions that I’ve made,” he said. Mayville also says that the punishment of a pay suspension for 180 days is excessive. “I think there have been people that have been criminally charged that haven’t had such a penalty laid against them.” Following the presentation of the integrity commissioner’s report, Mayville says he has been forced to seek legal counsel to determine what his options are moving forward. “I’m trying to do what’s best for the township and for the future. I think that’s number one on my mind and I think we’re a better township with the strong mayor (powers) in effect.” Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards is located 160 kilometres west of downtown Ottawa.
