City Council was a big one last night. 

Lots was discussed -- as well as a contentious issue regarding last year’s meetings. 

Remember, this isn’t a summary of all that was decided -- just a recap of the conversations that occurred. This summary will focus a lot more on that integrity commissioner’s report. Because? It’s important stuff -- and took up nearly half of City Council’s time.

First up was the integrity commissioners' report on conduct by Councillor Morales. 

That’s in response to Morales' comments about Councillor Aylwin during a city council meeting. 

Last night, Council voted to accept the commissioner's report, meaning Morale’s must submit a written apology within five days.

Here’s the summary of the situation by commissioner Craig. She’s an independent professional integrity commissioner.

For your info, the respondent is Councillor Morales. The complainant is Councillor Aylwin. 

Basically, Craig is saying Morales repeatedly did not engage with the commissioner during the mediation process. Craig said that Aylwin complied with the process: she suggested a reprimand, and a written apology from Morales to Aylwin, within five days of the decision. 

Council can vote to approve, amend or ignore Craig’s decision.

However, Councillor Morales offered a different take on the events. 

He spoke about his perspective on Aylwin’s behaviour, which he says fits into a pattern of pouting as opposed to teamwork: he did not define either of those terms.

Council voted to decide on the report right after Morales spoke -- it would have initially been slated to come up later on in the night.  However first, Craig responded: she said Morale’s apology, which he said he extended, was not sufficient. Specifically, she said an acceptable apology would need to have recognition of wrongdoing and be offered in good faith. 

Basically, she stood by her decision. Morale’s remarks contravened a code of conduct. 

After Morales and Craig spoke, the rest of council was permitted to comment.

While Councillor N. Harris and Councillor McCann asked if Councillor Aylwin would retract the complaint, Aylwin responded saying he stood by the commissioner’s report. 

There was a discussion by Councillor Harvey on why the situation was treated differently when Aylwin was reported on for remarks made about federal representatives.

Suzanne Craig said that situation was different as Aylwin’s remarks were made in good faith, whereas Morales’ were not. 

As always, there’s a lot of big things for the city that passed tonight that didn't cause discussion, like three new taskforces which will see to tackling big issues in Barrie. 

For the full minutes, head to Barrie’s website.