Rowswell's secret bid to rein in Fratesi (7 more documents)

Over the Christmas holiday season of 2000, Mayor John Rowswell retained a lawyer in a secret bid to rein in former Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer Joe Fratesi, according to confidential documents recently acquired by SooToday.com.

The following memoranda and E-mails, turned over to us this week by Q104 Radio reporter John Campbell, show Rowswell and Fratesi initially butting heads over their respective roles.

"I was hired by Council and only Council can fire me," Fratesi tells Rowswell at one point in a personal memo.

The tone and content of that particular communication from Fratesi so worried Rowswell that he retained Sudbury human resources lawyer Jack Braithwaite.

Braithwaite concluded that the CAO might have been trying to build a paper trail to cover himself in a wrongful dismissal suit, and advised Rowswell on ways to rein in Fratesi.

But Rowswell's decision to retain a lawyer at taxpayer's expense then drew flack from Ward 1 Councillor Jamie Caicco, who threatened to make the whole affair public unless Rowswell apologized.

To examine the leaked documents obtained by SooToday.com, please click on the links below.

Fratesi memo to City Council, December 20, 2000 Legal opinion about Joe Fratesi's conduct Rowswell memo to City Council, January 6, 2001 James Caicco E-mail to Rowswell, Jan. 9, 2001, 11:31 a.m. Derik Brandt responds to Caicco James Caicco E-mail to Rowswell, Jan. 9, 2001, 1:44 p.m. Rowswell memo to City Council, December 12, 2001

To see our initial posting of documents from earlier today, please click here.

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