Council ethic$
New council gets ethics training - Open to public. / Is there a problem already? / Court delay update
New council gets ethics training - Open to public
Ethics training for the new council will take place Monday, December 12, at 4:00 pm, at City Hall. It’s open to the public, live-streamed, and video-archived.
Thank you, and congratulations to the new council and city staff for hosting the Ethics Training in public. Now, will the public show up?
Citizen engagement can reduce the costly Integrity Commissioner’s Investigations of Code of Conduct and Municipal Conflict of Interest Act infractions. And after the past four years of that costly fiasco, this new council needs to operate “squeaky clean.”
What can citizens do? Please plan to attend Monday’s public training in person to show that council ethics matters. If that’s not possible, please watch the live stream.
The public training will put us all on the same page so citizens can do their part and help our new council "stay out of the weeds."
Is there a problem already?
An ethics question about “bonusing” came up at the Economic Development Committee meeting Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Here’s the scenario: The 80 Dieppe deal for an apartment building is off the table. The proponent had a phase 1 site survey completed. The result was inconclusive, and a phase 2 survey is required. With insufficient time and facing extra costs with an uncertain outcome, the proponent decided not to go forward after doing the phase 1 study for $7,000.
The city wants to know what the issues are with the property. Through the EDO's office, the proponent has offered the study at cost. Proof of the cost was supplied. The mayor is proposing the proponent just give the study to the city for free and made unclear comments about some future considerations related to the property - now off the table.
You can hear it for yourself in the archived video at: https://elliotlakeon.new.swagit.com/videos/190688 Mayor Patrie’s comments are at 1:16:30, and the Economic Development Officer responds at 1:19:15.
With the ethical question about "bonusing" not answered, and Mayor Patrie’s subsequent unclear comments to staff, this is sloppy at best.
What is “bonusing”? According to Andra Maxwell, Mississauga City Solicitor, “arrangements that provide a financial benefit to one or a small group of commercial enterprises and give them an advantage over their competitors, without a clear corresponding benefit to the municipality are most likely to constitute improper bonusing. Arrangements that benefit an entire class of businesses, across an entire municipality while maintaining a level playing field among competitors, are less likely to be challenged for bonusing.”
Will the new council do their due diligence and raise a question about this when they receive their training from the Integrity Commissioner Monday afternoon?
Any of the new council members can ask the question.
Court delay update
City of Elliot Lake vs. Patrie
In 2019, the Integrity Commissioner referred two Elliot Lake Municipal Conflict of Interest cases to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The court decided on one of the cases in March 2021. That ruling was subsequently appealed, and the appeal was decided in October 2021.
The other case from 2019, City of Elliot Lake vs. Patrie, remains undecided.
At the council meeting on September 26, (then) Councillor Patrie commented about the delay, “… the Ombudsman is still contacting me every month asking if a decision has been rendered, and I get it, it has been fourteen months since I sat in front of them it’s just unheard of that it would take them that long. We did ask the sitting judge a lot of hard questions about the integrity commissioner process that they’re going to have to make some precedent-setting rulings, and that’s what my lawyer is saying is taking so long …”
November 18, the Regional Senior Justice of the Northeast Region Superior Court of Justice looked into the delay. The delayed case was not being tracked because a Reserved Judgement Form had not been created by the Court Services Division of the Attorney General’s office.
With over 2,000 documents to review, deciding the case is an enormous task. However, Justice Rasaiah expects to render her decision by December 31, 2022.