Mitch Panciuk was the 76th Mayor of the City of Belleville. He was elected Mayor on October 22, 2018 after serving one-term as a Belleville Ward City Councillor (2014-2018).
He ran for re-election as the incumbent candidate for mayor in the City of Belleville in the 2022 municipal election, garnering support from local groups including the Belleville Professional Firefighters Association and Quinte Labour Council. He lost to Neil Ellis.
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Mitch Panciuk has not publicly stated support for any political party.
Between 2014 and 2018, he donated $2,200 to candidates of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario including Daryl Kramp and Todd Smith.
Federally, Panciuk has donated $5,300 to the Conservative Party of Canada and its candidates since 2006 as well as $500 to NDP candidate Terry Cassidy in 2015. Panciuk’s wife Lisa has donated $3,500 to Conservative Party of Canada candidates Daryl Kramp and Jodie Jenkins since 2008.
Housing and homelessness
We’ve cleaned up 58 illegal encampments already this year in the city of Belleville because of health and hygiene issues and safety issues. We don’t want to see these tent cities that we see in other cities where all of a sudden you have different problems the police have to respond to
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Currently, more than $14 million a year is provided to Hastings County, with $7.4 million of that going to help the disadvantaged in local communities. Unfortunately, not all of that money gets spent, Panciuk said, because some people refuse the help.
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Any type of housing, whether it be affordable housing, or even high-end housing helps, because it creates more supply in the market. So, this project to go ahead, would be phenomenal news and it’s nice to see this company recognizing that, and be willing to provide some housing for us.
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Supports increasing police budget and hiring more officers
Panciuk said that while crime was on the rise, the city was still doing great compared to crime elsewhere and that Belleville remains a very safe place. The incumbent mayor went on to say that he did support hiring more officers and expanding frontline resources for police.
Controversies
Integrity commissioner investigation into hiring his campaign manager
After a months-long investigation into a complaint about the conduct of Mayor Mitch Panciuk, the Integrity Commissioner’s report found that he had breached the code of conduct in two cases:
- Contravening Section 8 the Code of Conduct by using the influence of his office to direct staff, interfere in the hiring process and to exert pressure on a senior staff member to hire a specific individual which mayoral candidate Neil Ellis claims was Panciuk’s election campaign manager, still working for City Hall.
- Contravening section 11 of the code of conduct by engaging in a course of conduct that should have been known to be unwelcome by exerting pressure on the senior staff member to hire the specific individual. The statement that it would be the senior staff member’s “funeral” with respect to his hiring choice, in combination with other statements and the Mayor’s influence throughout the process amounted to harassment.
The report states that Panciuk tried to sway the hiring process for one employee and that he directed staff to include two candidates on a shortlist to be interviewed, even though they were unqualified for the position.
The report recommended the following penalties:
- Publish a public reprimand expressing council’s condemnation of Panciuk’s alleged interference in the city’s hiring process and his reported attempts to influence staff to make hiring decisions.
- Impose a 30-day suspension of Panciuk’s pay.
In October 2019, Council voted to accept the integrity commissioner’s findings that ruled in favour of the mayor and councillors, but did note vote on or mention the rulings that found Panciuk had breached the code of conduct or the two recommendations the commissioner offered in relation to the mayor.
In response, Panciuk stated: “I recognize that I should not have put myself in that situation and made the city and council vulnerable, and I apologize for that,” who added that he thought “the potential penalties that [the integrity commissioner] was suggesting were overdone for a first occurrence.”
In August 2020, after Belleville council received the Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming’s annual report on services provided, council voted to fire him and cancel the contract with his firm, Cunningham Swan.
- The commissioner had also looked into potential violations involving three councillors, but those were determined to be unfounded.
- Coun. Malette argued against the amendment, saying he felt like some councillors wanted to hire an integrity commissioner that suited their needs. was ejected from the meeting for taking exception to Panciuk’s repeated use of the term “hotel gate”, referencing investigations that Coun. Williams had been cleared in.
- Panciuk alleged the commissioner did sloppy work, pointing to an alleged error in one of Fleming’s reports, where he called Belleville a township rather than a city, as evidence that Fleming “copies and pastes” from documents he uses in other municipalities and neglects to proofread his work. He also said he was interfering the democratic process when he directed councillors not to discuss his findings with each other.
- Councillors Carr, Williams and Thompson voted against the firing. Coun. Malette did not vote due to being absent.
We need a mayor with integrity, Google Mitch Panciuk and integrity
We had an Integrity Commission rule against the mayor for hiring his campaign manager. This mistake cost us $1 million.
Neil Ellis during the 2022 election debate
Filling vacant council seat
Panciuk refused to appoint the next runner-up in the 2018 election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Councillor Pat Culhane in 2020.
City Council was given two options on how they could fill the vacant council position:
- Hold a special by-election or
- Appoint a replacement for the remainder of the term
Historically, the appointees have been runners-up from past elections, in part due to the cost of a special by-election being a minimum of $200,000.
Council voted on whether or not to appoint Tyler Allsopp, who was the next in-line by votes, but it failed in a 4-4 tie, with Councillors Sandison, McCaw, Kelly and Mayor Panciuk voting against it. A motion to strike a committee also failed.
Panciuk then created an ad hoc committee consisting of one Councillor, McCaw, and six handpicked members of the community to appoint a member of the public, giving regard to those who identify as female or non-binary, or who represent other elements of diversity in our community such as sexual orientation, indigenous status, race and/or disability.
In January 2021, Jennifer McTavish, who was on the city’s accessibility advisory committee, was selected and recommended in the full report.
Councillors McCaw, Sandison and Mayor Mitch Panciuk approved the report, but Councillor Kelly cast a tie-breaking vote not to receive the report.
After the strong public support of appointing Allsop, five days later, council voted 7 to 1 to appoint Allsopp, with only Coun. McCaw voting against.
Less than 6 months later when Coun. Williams stepped down in March 2021 to run as the Conservative Candidate for the Bay of Quinte in the federal election, City Council moved in favour of appointing the next runner up in the previous election, Carol Feeney.
Panciuk said that the controversy during the previous appointment proceeding regarding the lack of gender diversity on city council would be resolved in this situation because the second runner-up is female.
