Edmonton Coun. Mike Nickel again avoids punishment by council vote for third code of conduct violation

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Edmonton city councillor and mayoral candidate Mike Nickel for the third time will avoid punishment after breaking the council code of conduct by retaliating on social media against prior complaints made against him.

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Three councillors voted against a recommended sanction to censure Nickel for his latest code of conduct violation Monday, which failed 8-3 since it required a two-thirds majority of nine votes in favour to pass. Councillors Jon Dziadyk, Tony Caterina and Moe Banga voted in opposition of sanction at all three hearings. Nickel and Coun. Michael Walters didn’t vote.

In a sanction hearing Monday afternoon, integrity commissioner Jamie Pytel said she found Nickel violated the code, which he supported when it was approved in 2018, through a series of social media posts in April targeted at Coun. Andrew Knack and his staff.

In the posts, Nickel shared a photo of Knack asking if he directed his staff to file a complaint against him and if it was a “$50,000+ stunt.” The costs of the investigations haven’t been released publicly by the city, but the annual budget for the integrity commissioner is $150,000 and Pytel receives $200 an hour for her service on top of a monthly retainer fee of $2,000.

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Pytel received two complaints based on these social media posts, including one from Mayor Don Iveson, and she found Nickel violated the code by attempting to ridicule and intimidate people who have come forward. Retaliation against those who make complaints is prohibited in the council code, which Pytel argued is the most important component to ensure the code carries weight. She recommended council sanction Nickel through a censure, one step up from her previous penalty recommendation of a letter of reprimand.

“Without council rejecting retaliatory conduct, I do believe the code would be meaningless,” Pytel told council Monday. “The concern is that there’s this attempt to blame or ridicule for the costs associated with something that ultimately turned out to be associated with Councillor Nickel’s conduct and nobody else’s. If retaliatory conduct is permitted, it causes not only a chill, but an Arctic chill on the code.”

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But the councillors voting in opposition to the sanction cited the upcoming election as a chance for residents to judge a councillor’s actions and those decisions should be left up to them without council influence.

“What will censure do? What would an apology do in this situation?” Dziadyk said. “The public should decide with the upcoming election.”

Nickel has previously been found in violation of the code of conduct twice within the last year and wasn’t sanctioned in either case. Last August, Pytel found Nickel breached several elements of the code in social media posts containing misleading information and not accurately reflecting decisions of council. In June, Nickel was found in violation of the code for using email addresses obtained through his work as a councillor for campaign purposes.

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In a statement following the vote Monday, Iveson said he is disappointed by the decision of three councillors to continuously vote against punishment to ensure the code of conduct is followed.

“It’s concerning to me that council couldn’t bring itself to hold this bullying behaviour to account, and I am concerned about the message this sends to City of Edmonton employees, as well as people running to join city council,” Iveson said in the statement. “I am troubled that a minority of council members effectively blocked accountability for problematic behaviour from a council member.”

duscook@postmedia.com

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