Although not willing to provide examples from the current council, the Greater Sudbury Taxpayers Association has “expressed grave concerns about the legitimacy and legality of the city's Health Community Initiatives (HCI) fund.”
Dan Melanson, president of the GSTA, said he would like to see council account for the money they spend in their slush funds, which have recently been increased from about $34,000 to $50,000 in a transparent manner — the quarterly reports they release on spending are not enough. Instead, he would like to see council as a whole approve each potential purchase prior to making it.
“If a project is worth doing, it's worth doing right,” he said.
During a Family Day press conference, Melanson discussed a series of questions the association presented to “respected lawyer” Gregory Levine, pertaining to the broad authority a municipality has in creating HCI, also known as slush funds, as well as the appropriate use of the money.
According to Levine, “councillors are entitled to do what council as a whole instructs them to do, there are potential problems with a funding scheme which allows councillors to distribute funds without clear criteria or rules.”
“Use of the funds for anything other than the common good creates potential for individual violation of the Code of Ethics, which exhorts members to be cognisant of the importance of serving the public as a whole.”
Melanson called for action, but did not give a time line.
“We'll see how they react to this announcement,” he said. “(We are in) no big hurry to pull the trigger on this.”
However, a move toward action is required, he said.
“If the council does not do the right thing and act to abolish the HCI funding program, the GSTA intends to seek change which may entail petitioning the provincial government for relief or instituting court action in respect to conflict of interest in cases where such action is viable and appropriate,”
Melanson stated. “Council's approach is simply wrong, and righting that wrong is necessary — now.”
In offering up a solution, Melanson suggested the implementation of an ombudsman and auditor general, as well as someone who can and will uphold the ethics of councillors, to solve the problem.
While the GSTA asked for more transparency from council, Melanson was not willing to detail the costs of the report from Levine. He said the lawyer was charging in the range of $200 to $300 per hour, for between six and 18 hours of work. The expense will be covered by GSTA membership dues and donations from members.
For more information on the association, visit gstaxpayers.ca.
Posted by Jenny Jelen
