Scott Warnica902 220-1621

2016-02-11

Mayor Mike Savage1841 Argyle St,Halifax, NS

Dear Mr. MayorI wish to make a formal complaint against Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman for violating various sections of the “Halifax Regional Municipality Administration Order 52, Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials”.

On July 6th 2013, Councillor Matt Whitman posted a picture of a red Charger on the Kingswood Residents Facebook site with the following “The Kingswood red Charger (lives on Lake Mist) that drives like a #&@!% is up to his old tricks again…. If you see him speeding dial 911 with his license plate right away. He needs to be stopped”.

By writing this unprofessional post on Facebook he singled out a constituent living in his riding and failed to treat that person with dignity, understanding and respect Contrary to Section IV 12 of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

By writing this unprofessional post on Facebook he encouraged the general public to call 911 for a non-emergency event Contrary to Sec 12 of the Emergency “911” Act of Nova Scotia. Further, his actions failed to uphold and adhere to the Provincial laws of Nova Scotia Contrary to Section IV 5 of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

In mid-October 2013, Councillor Matt Whitman and the local ratepayers association took part in a truck counting survey on the Hammonds Plains Road. This was in conjunction with a planned RCMP education and enforcement action concerning the truck bylaw which was to take place October 29 th 2013. Education action on that date led to a constituent complaining to Councillor Matt Whitman about the bylaw and Councillor Matt Whitman was subsequently interviewed by the Halifax Chronicle Herald. In that interview he was quoted as saying “he was surprised and disappointed that the RCMP stopped Murray and forced him to take a 50 kilometre detour to get to his farm”. Councillor Matt Whitman was well aware of the planned education and enforcement action when he took part in the truck survey in mid-October and his comments to the Halifax Chronicle Herald were misleading and untrue Contrary to Section II 3 (B) (ii) of Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

On February 9th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman (HRM DM Matt Whitman) tweeted “Very disappointed in the #RCMP officer who ticketed a Kingswood 4 wheeler with a plow $406 for tidying up his culdesac #PowerTrip #GetALife”.

Matt Whitman failed to obtain all of the information concerning this event to enable him to make an informed, objective, careful and fair decision on these events Contrary to Sec II (b) (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

Matt Whitman failed to treat a Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) policing partner with understanding and respect Contrary to Sec IV 13 of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

Matt Whitman failed to observe a high standard of professionalism when representing the municipality and in dealings with members of the broader community Contrary to Sec IV 14 of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

His tweet of “#PowerTrip” and “#GetALife” indicates he is ignorant to the fact Council and the HRM policing partner must have a good working relationship. His tweet was inflammatory, without merit and was not constructive to improving citizen police relations in the HRM Contrary to Section VI 16 of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news and identified as “Halifax’s deputy mayor”. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman stated “My opinion at this stage is this guy deserves a warning, let’s not punish Good Samaritans”. Comments posted by members of the public below the CBC news online news report questioning his view on the event as well as the comments made by Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman himself make it clear he had still failed to obtain all of the information concerning this event to enable him to make an informed, objective, careful and fair decision on these events Contrary to Sec II (b) (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news and identified as “Halifax’s deputy mayor”. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman told CBC news his neighbour “… uses his ATV equipped with a plow to remove snow the city misses”. Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman misled CBC news and the general public to minimize the offences committed by one of his constituents Contrary to Section II 3 (b) (ii) of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news and identified as “Halifax’s deputy mayor”. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman told CBC news “This is just a police officer who saw the situation and wanted to exercise his authority”. Twenty four hours after the event, Matt Whitman had still failed to obtain all of the information concerning this event to be objective. His comment was inflammatory, without merit and was not constructive to improving citizen police relations in the HRM Contrary to Section VI 16 of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news and identified as “Halifax’s deputy mayor”. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman told CBC news “He will do what he can to help his neighbour fight the ticket”. Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman is using his position as an elected official to assist a single citizen dispute a ticket and is failing to uphold the code of conduct for elected municipal officials as a means of promoting the standards of behaviour expected of members and enhancing the credibility and integrity of Council in the broader community Contrary to Section ii 3 (c).

As a remedy I would like Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman removed as Deputy Mayor for HRM, I would like to see him tweet an apology while admitting he acted unprofessionally and irresponsibly as well as publically apologize to those affected.

Scott Warnica