Sarnia City Council has voted to suspend Mayor Mike Bradley's remuneration for a period of three months.
In special session, before a packed gallery at city hall Tuesday afternoon, councillors voted 6-2 in favour of a recommendation put forth by Integrity Commissioner Robert Swayze.
After investigating complaints filed by two former senior managers, Swayze found Bradley to be in contravention of council's rules of conduct in his actions at city hall and in his dealings with staff.
Councillors MacDougall, Mitro, Scholten, Bruziewicz, White and Gillis voted in favour of the resolution with Kelch and Boushy against.
Bev MacDougall, who chaired the 90 minute meeting, said the decision to sanction the mayor is hard for everyone.
"He is a skilled politician, but we as the body collective are the Board of Directors for this corporation. We are bound by labour laws to provide a healthy and safe workplace for our employees," says MacDougall.
While in the minority in the vote to suspend the mayor's pay, councillor Mike Kelch said the environment at city hall has to change.
"If we were having an election in a month, who cares?" says Kelch. "But, this group has to work together for two and a half more years. That can either be a productive and promising experience for us or it can be hell, and I don't want the hell part."
David Boushy says he thinks the integrity commissioner was biased. "I think a lot of flowery speeches were made by the city council that they shouldn't have," says Boushy. "I think Mike Bradley loves the city, is a good person, he's served the city for 28 years and I think they overdid it."
Both the mayor and city manager did not take part in the meeting.
-with files from Dave Dentinger