Amherstburg integrity commissioner dismisses conflict complaint against deputy mayor, councillor

The integrity commissioner has dismissed a complaint against the deputy mayor and a councillor after complaints about undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Amherstburg’s integrity commissioner has dismissed a conflict of interest complaint against the deputy mayor and a councillor.

The complaint, filed against Chris Gibb and Linden Crain, claimed they should have declared a conflict during a February council discussion about sponsoring the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Excellence Awards.

The commissioner found neither had a direct or indirect financial interest.

Council approved a $500 sponsorship, and both Crain and Gibb were allowed to take part in the discussion and vote.

While their business and employer are Chamber members, that connection was considered not significant enough to influence their decision.

Crain says the review system is doing its job.

“I feel that residents should understand that the process with the integrity commissioner is working,” he said.

“A thorough investigation took place. I don’t believe there is any merit and it said we’re not breaching any type of conflict of interest at all.”

Crain says there was no personal or financial benefit for anyone involved.

“The town did not receive an award, was not eligible to receive an award,” he said.

“We’ve been sponsoring it for many years. Both mine and the deputy mayor’s businesses or the companies we work for were not nominated.”

Crain raised concerns about the expense tied to complaints.

“From speaking with the integrity commissioner, it was close to $1,000 for this to have taken place, so the costs add up right?” he said.

“The more and more complaints that go in, some, in my opinion, this is frivolous in nature, has no merit, it’s wasting resources in the sense right?”

The complaint is now closed, with no further report going to council.

This was the second complaint filed against Crain this term.

He was also cleared in March over a phone call with Premier Doug Ford tied to the closure of the Amherstburg Diageo bottling plant.