Mayor Brad Whitcombe said Puslinch council “stands united” in its decision to fire two senior fire officials and in its resolve to defend the lawsuit the pair has launched against the township.
But ironically, councillor Dick Visser objected to the mayor’s statement on March 4 because a copy of it was not provided to council in advance.
Despite agreeing to some of the information contained therein, Visser called the statement “an attempt to quell the firestorm in the community” surrounding the December firings of Fire Chief Dan Quinnell and his son, fire prevention officer Richard Quinnell.
“Maybe it will be a firestorm that will consume all of our political careers,” he told council. “Personally, I don’t care.”
Visser maintains he was repeatedly ignored when he lobbied for a review of the alleged financial discrepancies in the fire department under the watch of the Quinnells.
According to Whitcombe’s statement, the terminations were the direct result of a township investigation into “inappropriate” time sheets.
More specifically, the investigation – triggered by complaints from firefighters – concerned “standby pay” ($26 per day) issued to firefighters who were on call for emergencies but not otherwise working at the fire hall, the mayor said.
Yet Visser took exception to that explanation.
“To me, there’s a lot more going on than that,” he said. He previously valued the alleged financial discrepancies at about $250,000 and has stated there was also some “intimidation” of firefighters during the Quinnells’ tenure.
On Jan. 6, about a month after their dismissal, the Quinnells launched a lawsuit against the township, seeking damages of over $735,000 for wrongful dismissal, mental distress, and bad faith, plus aggravated and punitive damages.
“The township has retained outside counsel and has filed its defence,” Whitcombe said. “Central to the defence is our view that the dismissals … were for good and sufficient reason; if we are correct, no damages would be owing.”
The mayor added litigation is currently at the “document production” stage and the Ontario Provincial Police are also investigating the matter.
“The township is working with the OPP to investigate allegations of improper time keeping and reporting and will take further action if warranted following the results of the OPP investigation,” said Whitcombe.
“I want to be clear that, at this time, no charges have been laid against anyone. I would like to assure residents on behalf of council that the township has acted and continues to act in the best interests of the residents in this matter.”
Three days after last week’s meeting, councillor Susan Fielding emailed The Advertiser to stress that Whitcombe’s statement was not a “statement of council,” as originally presented.
“I objected to the fact that council had no input and no prior knowledge of this, so it was changed to a mayor’s statement, which is truly reflective of what it is,” she wrote.
