Council has voted not to do an independent review of the mayor’s expenses and business development opportunities.
After a significantly amended motion was defeated, the original motion was then going to be broken down by the five bullet points to be voted on.
Once the first one, calling for an independent review was defeated, confusion on what audit was being referred to in the remaining points ensued.
Councillor Tanya Vrebosch suggested the motion be pulled altogether and they come back with a newly worded motion to be dealt with at a special meeting in the next couple of weeks.
“We’re looking completely stupid right now,” she says. “Changing and breaking it up into five pieces has changed the intent of the motion and we need to bring this back because we need to stop this.”
Councillor Jamie Lowery, who put forward the original motion, agreed to pull it but says the intent is to still find out what happened.
“There’s obviously been something gone wrong with expenses, how they were charged, how they were paid back,” he says. “The spirit and the intent of the motion is to get to the bottom of it. Whatever it takes to get it done. I really think we have to look and it’s our responsibility as a council, if we don’t ask what happened, nobody will.”
While no specific cost estimate on doing an independent review was provided, Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield said her research suggested it could cost upwards of $75,000.
Several other councillors earlier stated calling for an independent review was premature, with the mayor asking the Integrity Commissioner in late June to investigate his expenses.
Councillor Gary Gardiner, who says he stands with the mayor, spoke to items discussed during an in-camera meeting.
“For the councillors who did perform their duties in attending the closed session, sufficient information was provided during that discussion to ascertain with absolute certainty that there was no criminal activity,” he says. “It is unfortunate that these series of motions implied otherwise so it’s important to clear the air.”
In late June, the mayor said the finance department felt about $16,000 in expenses from 2023 and 2024 should not have been claimed as city expenses.
All of the money was paid back.
Mayor Peter Chirico declared a conflict on Tuesday night’s motion and was not involved in any of the discussions or recorded votes.
