Let the Sun Shine In -Ensuring Full Transparency and Accountability The Challenge A lot of candidates like to use the terms transparency and accountability as election slogans with no idea what they really mean or any plan to actually put them into action. Others like the current Council, use it like slogan to hide behind as they meet in secret and keep the public in the dark or only talk about transparency and accountability when it can get votes in an election. Their commitment ends the day after the votes are counted. They seem to take the view that what you don’t know is really none of your business. It is unbelievable that many contracts and private minutes remain secret decades after the events. Too many staff and council members see the stamp CONFIDENTIAL as SECRET FOREVER AND A DAY. We need a SUNLIGHT BYLAW that requires that all confidential reports and minutes must be released when the reason for the confidentiality no longer exists or six months after the event. For example, it may be legitimate to keep confidential a real estate negotiation or appraisal but what is served by keep this secret after the deal has closed and the land transfer completed. The same applies to staff contracts etc. Why would they need to be kept secret after the person is no longer employed? Lawsuits should be released after settlement and confidentiality agreements made illegal in the public service. The Solution As one of my first actions, when returned to Council, will be to seek passage of a SUNLIGHT BYLAW to actually bring full transparency and accountability to public service. The City and all its agencies needs a SUNLIGHT LAW where requires that all confidential contracts must be made public after awarding and all confidential minutes must be released publicly after six months. Too much is kept secret long after the reasons for confidentiality no longer exist. Those who act ethically never fear the light. If all reports, contracts, etc. eventually will see the light of day, it will send a clear message to those work in the public service that they must act ethically at all times or face the consequences. The same applies to those wanting to do business with the City and be paid from public funds. If you want public money, then you must agree to public accountability. All reports and contracts must eventually be available for all to see.... that is real accountability and transparency and must be the first step for the new Council. This term, Council has seen a number of issues that have caused most Oshawa taxpayers to shake their heads. Let’s look at a few. 1) Secret negotiations were conducted with the Provincial Government regarding the expansion of the 407 highway into Oshawa. The result of these negotiations was the dumping of massive amounts of traffic on Harmony Road and dumping massive costs onto Oshawa and Durham taxpayers. Area residents who will the most affected were never given any chance to comment before the deal was done. 2) For decades, Councilors office expenses were kept hidden despite public calls for accountability. Most of Council chose to not release their spending. It took a Freedom of Information Request from a local newspaper to finally expose the waste and sense of entitlement. Anyone reading the expense reports could see that too many on Council saw their office account as a personal piggy bank. As a result of this exposure, I was able to get a change in the bylaws to require all expenses, line item by line item, to be published. Finally, the public would able to see how their tax dollars were spent, or so we thought. After the election in 2010, one of the first acts of the new Council was to repeal that bylaw and keep their expenses hidden once again. 3) One of the most successful steps towards transparency and accountability was the hiring of an Auditor-General to oversee the spending of hard earned tax dollars and to ensure that all financial rules were followed. The Auditor-General over the five years of his contract saved the City an average of a million dollars a year. The office more than paid for itself. In 2013, the Auditor-General exposed shoddy financial dealings, incomplete and doctored City Reports, and the awarding of sole source contracts to cronies. Instead of applauding his investigation, Council eliminated the entire office of the Auditor-General and all his staff without any warning to the public. The Solution I have been advocating for years for more transparency and accountability. I have led the fight to have Council salaries and benefits released to the public, to have line by line reports on all monies spent by Council members on their offices, to end secret negotiations and to hold Council accountable for its choices. I was the only member of Council to voluntarily release all my Council expenses months prior to their eventual publishing in the media. It is unforgivable that Council members think they can spend your money on whatever they want and keep it secret. I have proposed that the new Council put tough new restrictions on Council Members spending and my Twelve Point Plan will be on the agenda of the FIRST Council meeting of the new term. Here is a copy of my proposed restrictions. Effective immediately, the following items are NOT allowed expenses • Blackberry use charges for long distance calls or internet/text messaging when outside Ontario. Councillors may reverse charge any emergency calls and submit any charges to Council for approval of reimbursement. • Purchase of any meals for Council members or guests unless you are representing the City of Oshawa and authorized as such by Council resolution. Any purchases must be filed with staff and publicly released within 14 days of submission. • Purchase of any tickets or admission to any charity, civic or related event unless you are authorized as representing the City as a whole by Council resolution • Purchase of memorial cards, flower arrangements or condolence advertising unless approved by Council • Any advertising which promotes the image or name of an individual Councillor. Council members may advertise public or neighbourhood meetings but must file the costs with staff and publicly release the same within 14 days of the meeting. • Requests for reimbursement of parking tickets or other similar charges. • Purchase of office equipment costing in excess of $50 without consent of Council. • Purchase of promotional items intended to promote the image or name of an individual Council member. • Purchase of portraits, photographs or other materials intended to promote the image or name of an individual Council member. • Purchase of Seasonal or Holiday card intended to promote the image or name of an individual Council member. • Purchase of any meal, hotel room, travel or related charge on any conference not approved by City Council and all receipts for reimbursement or payment must be report and filed with staff and publicly released within 14 days of return to the city. • Reimbursement of all mileage, taxi, bus or related transportation for any event unless participation in said event is approved in advance by Council and all receipts submitted for payment or reimbursement shall be filed with staff and publicly released within 14 days of return from the event. IF we can get council to approve this 12 STEPS program, perhaps we can wean people away from their addiction to uncontrolled and unaccountable spending. Next Steps 1) We need a real commitment to accountability and transparency especially when dealing with individual Council Members spending. In addition to my 12 step plan, we need to keep pressing the Province for more stringent penalties for conflict of interest and failure to disclose spending. If you break the rules during an election, you can be barred from being elected. This same rule should apply after the election as well. Those refusing to release information should face sanctions including the removal from office. 2) We need a public Audit Committee to review Council Members expenses and to rule on complaints. Any spending during the municipal election is subject to review by an Audit Committee, a panel of three citizens, who will review expenses and rule on whether further action should be taken. This committee, or one similar, should be retained for the term of Council and any citizen should have the right to file complaints with this committee. We must immediately restore the function of Auditor-General to Oshawa. The successful person who is hired for this position should serve for the entire term of Council and have their budget for the entire term approved at the beginning of the term. Council should not have any oversight powers in any investigation conducted by the Auditor-General and his staff. All City staff must be compelled to answer any and all inquiries made during all investigations. Additionally, the Auditor-General must be truly independent and beyond the control of either staff or political representatives. The Auditor-General must be given the right to present reports to Council on any matter. 3) Council needs to enforce its Code of Conduct by continuing to support a joint Integrity Commissioner in partnership with our neighbouring municipalities. Rather than let Council impose penalties, which could lead to political abuse, we need to give the Integrity Commissioner the power to enforce the Code with appropriate penalties. Oshawa’s Choice We can either let the abuse of power and the sense of entitlement and secrecy continue unchecked OR We can elect Council members who not only support accountability and transparency, but also have a track record that proves their commitment. On October 27th Vote to send a clear message that the days of secrecy, abuse of power, uncontrolled spending and flaunting of rules are over. Vote to return Brian Nicholson to Oshawa and Durham Councils.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 14:15:58 +0000
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