Yellowknife city councillor censured for ethics violation involving misplaced laptop

On Monday evening, Yellowknife city council censured fellow councillor Cat McGurk for violating the code of ethics.

Integrity commissioner Sheldon Toner released a report last month that found McGurk tried to get the city, and then two contractors, to reimburse someone for a personal laptop McGurk had misplaced.

He recommended that council censure McGurk if they didn't take responsibility and accept the report's findings. Being censured is basically a public reprimand, it doesn't affect their position on council.

McGurk had accepted the findings, which council acknowledged, but still decided to censure them. 

McGurk had to leave council chambers for the vote on Monday. 

Coun. Stacie Arden Smith brought forward the motion which included three parts. First that council receive the Integrity commissioners report, second that council accept that McGurk took responsibility for their actions and third that council censure McGurk for violating the code of ethics bylaw. 

This motion was carried unanimously by councillors in attendance, only Coun. Tom McLennan wasn't present for the vote. McGurk re-entered council chambers shortly after.

In a committee meeting earlier this month, councillors did talk about how there would need to be consequences for McGurk's actions, despite them taking responsibility. 

Toner detailed a "sequence of problematic decisions" and "irrational, self-serving and persistent" behaviour by McGurk to rationalize their actions. 

Toner said McGurk violated three sections of the council code of ethics, including a section that stipulates no member of council should use their influence for any purpose other than their elected duties.

The report details how McGurk, who stayed in the city during last year's wildfire evacuation to help co-ordinate volunteers, borrowed and then misplaced the personal laptop of someone who worked for an electrical company involved in the city's wildfire response.

After unsuccessfully trying to find it a few months later, McGurk asked the city to reimburse the owner, even though they hadn't worked in an official capacity during the evacuation. When they were told the city could not do so, they went to two different contractors — neither of whom had ties to the laptop owner — and asked them to invoice the city for it.

Toner found McGurk mischaracterized the situation when they approached the contractors, giving them the false impression that the laptop's owner was the one who had lost it instead of them and that it was the City of Yellowknife that was looking for an invoice.

Excerpts of conversations in the report include a text message exchange where McGurk told the laptop's owner that they would be compensated for the lost laptop through one of the contractors — even though that had not yet been approved.

"The overall impression presented by the evidence is that Member McGurk felt entitled to City of Yellowknife resources to cover a loss [they] had personally incurred," Toner wrote.

"The loan and loss of the laptop may have happened during the critical time, but it is unbecoming for a member of council to expect a revival of lower standards to procure reimbursement long after the crisis has ended," he wrote.

The report notes both contractors "exercised proper judgment" by not submitting the invoice. The city did not end up paying for the laptop.

Ultimately, the laptop owner's partner took McGurk to civil court over the matter and filed the complaint with the integrity commissioner.

In a statement to CBC, McGurk said they paid the person $750 for the missing laptop.