Harassment of town staff sees more resignations

By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle

The Town of Osoyoos has been crippled by the loss of key personnel after another resignation was announced Tuesday as a direct result of the malicious and defamatory behaviour of a small segment of local residents upset over the tax hike and infrastructure issues.

The resignation of Jared Brounstein, Director of Operational Services was made public during the council meeting on Tuesday, May 14. Earlier in May Brianne Hillson, formerly the Director of Corporate Services for the town resigned from her position to move to Camrose, Alberta for another job as a result of harassment and bullying. 

This brings the total to three staff which the Times Chronicle understands have chosen to leave the town for other opportunities because of the animosity that was directed at them over the months since the taxation issue boiled to the surface.

Currently, there are three vacancies or pending vacancies at the Director level – Brounstein, Hillson and Gina MacKay formerly Director of Planning and Development Services who left for other unspecified reasons unrelated to the taxation furor,  as well as two public works superintendents, one of which also left due to the toxic public reaction. 

Speaking to the Times Chronicle Rod Risling Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) said “Unfortunately, most of these vacancies are a direct result of the efforts of a few vocal members of the community.”

The toxicity displayed by a small group of residents included verbal abuse and threats hurled at town staff both during work hours and off work hours, notes left on vehicles, social media posts including talk of dragging Risling back to Alberta behind a truck, vandalized town vehicles, and even a hangman’s noose displayed briefly in front of town hall at one point. 

It’s been suggested that these actions have been stoked by a core group of residents that were integral to various protests mounted over the taxation issue. 

Risling related that he was hesitant to speak out about the issue since the environment around the tax hike has cooled down somewhat and he did not want to stir up more negative sentiment but felt it was important residents understood the consequences of the actions of certain individuals.

“It is important for the community to know that the behaviour of some people within the community is going to have an impact on some of the things the Town does,” Risling said.

“Staff turnover is expected in any organization. People leave for a variety of reasons that may include such things as career advancements, new opportunities, increase in pay, and/or more accommodating work schedules. 

“As a result, the Town of Osoyoos experiences staff turnover just like any other business,” he says adding that the town has experienced more staff departures than normal especially at the senior level over the past few months.

“Being a public servant requires thick skin at times as there is always going to be the odd situation or statement made by the public that is not conducive to a respectful working environment. However, the malice and frequency of the behaviour directed to Town administration and in many cases directed at specific individuals during and after working hours reached the point where some of our team members felt they had no option but to leave,” he said.

Elaborating he said the behaviour of a few people that have the desire to express “disrespectful opinions, partial truths taken out of context and lies about the Town and/or specific staff working for the Town,” forced some of the team members to make a “life changing decision to move”.

Risling says it’s “disheartening” to know that staff are put in a position where they see no other option but to leave not only the organization but the region as well.

He says all but one of these five individuals stated that the disrespectful behaviour was either “the” or a “contributing” reason for leaving.

“My heart goes out to my team for having to discuss these situations with their family. And then to be telling your children that you are leaving the community because of bullying.”

“My heart goes out to my team for having to discuss these situations with their family. And then to be telling your children that you are leaving the community because of bullying.” It goes against everything we are taught about standing up to bullying, he noted. 

He relates that his emotions go from feeling “helpless and deeply sorry” for his team members and their families to “pure disgust and anger” over the entire situation. 

“Nobody deserves to be treated the way things have gone the past several months,” he says. 

Staff, he notes, are simply doing their job and “to have to endure the kind of social media posts that are out there, being given the finger either on the job or after hours, being approached in a confrontational manner after hours, spray painting a town vehicle with disturbing remarks, its just disgusting.”

The situation became so bad that the Town of Osoyoos asked the provincial and federal governments for legislation against “personal and defamatory attacks on local government” in a resolution to the Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) which represents 37 Southern Interior local governments.

The Town highlighted in its resolution – which was endorsed by SILGA members – that current rules under WorkSafeBC and the Workers Compensation Act do not offer enough protection to council members and town staff against such problems.

To make matters worse the malicious behaviour has gone national, tarnishing the image of Osoyoos as “Canada’s warmest welcome”. It has also made it much more difficult to attract potential candidates to fill the vacancies in key positions. Risling notes he is constantly asked by employees from other municipalities how town staff are coping.

It couldn’t come at a worse time as the town faces a slew of critical issues to deal with, including addressing the water potable situation, sewage and also at a time when the Province is riding municipalities hard on the issue of housing with a requirement to amend bylaws to enable densification.

The loss of staff results in hard costs of advertising, interviewing, relocation costs and training. But it’s also not just about losing talented staff, it’s a loss of corporate knowledge, something that is difficult to put an actual dollar figure on but clearly one that has serious implications for the operation of the town.

Risling also expresses his dilemma over how he could have stopped this. “Should Administration not have been transparent in providing the state of our infrastructure specifically our utilities, potable water and sewer? Should we have not applied for grants to do things like the Plaza, or been so aggressive in getting the water plant grant? This is what I believe Administration is supposed to do. This is what I believe people want – the Truth,” he says.

Indeed there have been observations made that previous councils and previous town administrations may have been less than transparent on such matters, preferring to keep taxation levels artificially low and turning a blind eye to the deteriorating infrastructure of the town, leading to where the community finds itself now.

“It would have been so much easier just to ignore the facts and keep things hidden from Council and the public. We would have a full complement of staff. We wouldn’t need to have bylaw officer attend council meetings, address WorkSafe measures to protect staff etc.

“Ethically, I believe in transparency and want to provide the facts so those elected to make decisions have the information to make informed decisions. But the question I ask myself every day is, ‘Should I have buried my head in the sand, or done my job?’”

In the final analysis, Risling is proud of the team for keeping calm and carrying on without reacting to all the criticism.

“They are true professionals I am very thankful for the many community members who provided positive support. It meant so much to the team. They truly displayed the warmth that Osoyoos is known for.”