Kirwan defends his vote on ward funds

During the City Council meeting held on November 24, 2015, City Council unanimously passed a motion to transfer the HCI funds and administration to the Leisure Services Department.

Following the meeting, Mayor Bigger indicated publically that this was only an administrative change and that the main policy would not change. "The leisure services department was a natural fit," Bigger said, "as most projects funded by the HCIs fall within its mandate. This doesn't change the process. The existing policies and procedures remain. This is simply a shifting of the funds into an area where staff are fully accountable."

A recent editorial in Northern Life written by Mr. Mark Gentili questioned the motivation of councillors in bringing forward the motion at this time: "As if that isn't odd enough, the motion passed unanimously, which is strange because even Ward 5 Coun. Bob Kirwan voted for it. On his Valley East Today page on Facebook, Kirwan has been most vociferous in his defence of the ward funds, practically calling proponents of changing them stupid."

As for singling me out personally, and implying that I have had a change of heart with respect to the administration of the HCI funds, I direct Mr. Gentili to the meeting of April 28, 2015 where council considered four options that were presented by staff with respect to the HCI policy. I moved the motion that the City of Greater Sudbury “transfer the HCI budget and reassign HCI administrative duties from Executive and Legislative to Leisure Services.”

The following councillors voted in favour of that motion on April 28: Councillors Signoretti; Dutrisac; Kirwan, Landry-Altman; and Mayor Bigger. All other councillors voted against the resolution so the motion was defeated. I am very pleased to see that all of the other councillors have now decided to support this resolution.

Therefore, to make it perfectly clear, I have not changed my mind about the HCI funds. I voted in favour of moving the administration to the Leisure Services Department on April 28, 2015 and I voted in favour of the same thing on Nov. 24. I have maintained right from the beginning that under the current language of the HCI policy bylaw individual councillors have no authorization to directly administer, control, approve and disburse the HCI Corporate Funds.

Councillors receive applications for the funds, ensure that the applicant is qualified, and check to see that the application contains all of the required elements set out in the policy. The councillor then signs the form to indicate that the application has been approved in substance and content prior to advancing the application to the executive assistant. It is the executive assistant who must then verify that the application is complete and that there are sufficient funds in the Ward account before herself signing the form and submitting it to the finance department and/or to city council for final approval.

The councillor’s signature means nothing without the signature of the executive assistant. For capital expenditures, the form must also receive the approval from staff in Leisure Services.

As indicated by Mayor Bigger, what we did on Nov. 24 doesn’t change the process. The existing policies and procedures remain the same. It doesn’t matter which department administers the HCI policy, it should serve the same purpose.

Robert Kirwan is the councillor for Ward 5.