Orillia City Councillor Jay Fallis, who was recently sanctioned by city council in the wake of a scathing report from the city's integrity commissioner, is calling for a judicial review of the decision.
In a press release issued this morning, Fallis announced he is seeking a judicial review "against the city’s integrity commissioner, Principles Integrity, and the City of Orillia."
Earlier this month, city council decided to suspend the Ward 3 councillor for 45 days following a report from the integrity commissioner that concluded Fallis violated Orillia's code of conduct after he shared confidential information with two different lawyers when he sought independent legal advice about the city's waterfront development project.
Coun. Fallis "sought legal advice so that he could properly understand the implications of a decision, made in closed session, with respect to a request for proposals for the waterfront redevelopment project," notes the news release from Wade Poziomka and Ashley Wilson, legal counsel with Ross and McBride LLP, a Hamilton-based law firm representing Fallis.
"Coun. Fallis was acting in a conscientious and diligent manner to serve the interests of his constituents," said Poziomka in the release.
"Coun. Fallis took certain steps to address a concern he had and was guided by the best interests of his constituents,” said Poziomka. “Legal advice is protected by lawyer client privilege," he said.
"Any information relayed by Coun. Fallis to a lawyer in the ambit of this client-solicitor relationship cannot be disclosed by the lawyer. In my view, it is not in the interests of the citizens of Orillia to prevent a city councillor from obtaining legal advice," said Poziomka.
"Situations will arise where a councillor disagrees with the city solicitor, or questions the legality of decisions of council. Punishing Councillor Fallis for seeking an understanding of the law at any point is problematic in my view," he said.
The law firm will not have further comment until the Divisional Court has reviewed the decision of both Principles Integrity and the City of Orillia in this matter.
