Scott Warnica

902 220-1621
2016-02-11
Mayor Mike Savage
1841 Argyle St,
Halifax, NS

Dear Mr. Mayor

I wish to make a formal complaint against Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman for violating
various sections of the Halifax Regional Municipality Administration Order 52, Code
of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.
On July 6th 2013, Councillor Matt Whitman posted a picture of a red Charger on the
Kingswood Residents Facebook site with the following The Kingswood red Charger
(lives on Lake Mist) that drives like a #&@!% is up to his old tricks again. If you
see him speeding dial 911 with his license plate right away. He needs to be
stopped.
By writing this unprofessional post on Facebook he singled out a constituent
living in his riding and failed to treat that person with dignity, understanding
and respect Contrary to Section IV 12 of the Code of Conduct for Elected
Municipal Officials.
By writing this unprofessional post on Facebook he encouraged the general
public to call 911 for a non-emergency event Contrary to Sec 12 of the
Emergency 911 Act of Nova Scotia. Further, his actions failed to uphold
and adhere to the Provincial laws of Nova Scotia Contrary to Section IV 5 of
the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.
In mid-October 2013, Councillor Matt Whitman and the local ratepayers association
took part in a truck counting survey on the Hammonds Plains Road. This was in
conjunction with a planned RCMP education and enforcement action concerning the
truck bylaw which was to take place October 29 th 2013. Education action on that
date led to a constituent complaining to Councillor Matt Whitman about the bylaw
and Councillor Matt Whitman was subsequently interviewed by the Halifax Chronicle
Herald. In that interview he was quoted as saying he was surprised and
disappointed that the RCMP stopped Murray and forced him to take a 50 kilometre
detour to get to his farm. Councillor Matt Whitman was well aware of the planned
education and enforcement action when he took part in the truck survey in midOctober and his comments to the Halifax Chronicle Herald were misleading and

untrue Contrary to Section II 3 (B) (ii) of Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal
Officials.
On February 9th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman (HRM DM Matt Whitman)
tweeted Very disappointed in the #RCMP officer who ticketed a Kingswood 4
wheeler with a plow $406 for tidying up his culdesac #PowerTrip #GetALife.
Matt Whitman failed to obtain all of the information concerning this event to
enable him to make an informed, objective, careful and fair decision on these
events Contrary to Sec II (b) (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal
Officials.
Matt Whitman failed to treat a Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) policing
partner with understanding and respect Contrary to Sec IV 13 of the Code of
Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.
Matt Whitman failed to observe a high standard of professionalism when
representing the municipality and in dealings with members of the broader
community Contrary to Sec IV 14 of the Code of Conduct for Elected
Municipal Officials.
His tweet of #PowerTrip and #GetALife indicates he is ignorant to the fact
Council and the HRM policing partner must have a good working relationship.
His tweet was inflammatory, without merit and was not constructive to
improving citizen police relations in the HRM Contrary to Section VI 16 of the
Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.
On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news
and identified as Halifaxs deputy mayor. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt
Whitman stated My opinion at this stage is this guy deserves a warning, lets not
punish Good Samaritans. Comments posted by members of the public below the
CBC news online news report questioning his view on the event as well as the
comments made by Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman himself make it clear he had still
failed to obtain all of the information concerning this event to enable him to make
an informed, objective, careful and fair decision on these events Contrary to Sec II
(b) (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.
On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news
and identified as Halifaxs deputy mayor. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt
Whitman told CBC news his neighbour uses his ATV equipped with a plow to
remove snow the city misses. Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman misled CBC news and
the general public to minimize the offences committed by one of his constituents
Contrary to Section II 3 (b) (ii) of the Code of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.

On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news
and identified as Halifaxs deputy mayor. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt
Whitman told CBC news This is just a police officer who saw the situation and
wanted to exercise his authority. Twenty four hours after the event, Matt Whitman
had still failed to obtain all of the information concerning this event to be objective.
His comment was inflammatory, without merit and was not constructive to
improving citizen police relations in the HRM Contrary to Section VI 16 of the Code
of Conduct for Elected Municipal Officials.
On February 10th 2016, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman was interviewed by CBC news
and identified as Halifaxs deputy mayor. In that interview Deputy Mayor Matt
Whitman told CBC news He will do what he can to help his neighbour fight the
ticket. Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman is using his position as an elected official to
assist a single citizen dispute a ticket and is failing to uphold the code of conduct for
elected municipal officials as a means of promoting the standards of behaviour
expected of members and enhancing the credibility and integrity of Council in the
broader community Contrary to Section ii 3 (c).
As a remedy I would like Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman removed as Deputy Mayor for
HRM, I would like to see him tweet an apology while admitting he acted
unprofessionally and irresponsibly as well as publically apologize to those affected.

Scott Warnica