Gravenhurst Councillor Jo Morphy was reprimanded for breach of Code of Conduct, in the October 15, 2024, Council meeting.

According to a letter to Council from the Town’s Integrity Commissioner, Suzanne Craig, she received a complaint about Morphy on July 10, 2024, about allegedly breaching the Code of Conduct in a public meeting by disclosing confidential information from a closed meeting.

The letter indicates that according to The Code “A Member has a duty to hold any information received at closed meetings in strict confidence for as long and as broadly as the confidence applies.”

After investigating the matter, the Commissioner provided Council with recommendations for dealing with it, including “a penalty of reprimand” and an information session with the Clerk’s office to discuss the Town’s procedure By-law and other processes relating to confidentiality from closed meetings.

Craig advised that the consequences were up to Council, and that they “may accept, change or vary her decisions, or not accept them.”

Morphy said that once she realized she made the error she reported it to the Commissioner, apologized about the incident, and didn’t “do this with any purpose.” She added, “I made an error.”

Morphy also indicated that she believed the Commissioner’s reprimand is fair and is “prepared to move forward with the recommendations.”

Some Council members indicated that the mistake wasn’t intentional, and she reported it, and they believed that an apology was enough.

Councillor, Peter Johnston, said that the matter “is an example of an incident that might have more appropriately been referred to Council.”

He added that they have “lost a sense of balance” in the world regarding responses “to real or perceived wrongdoing.” He also suggested the recommendation is “disproportionate to the wrongdoing.”

Council agreed it was still a Code violation and approved the Commissioner’s recommendations out of fairness, in addition to having staff read the Official Statement of Reprimand.