Litigation News

There's none.

I am mindful of what I learned when I initially asked in 2008 for the town's legal costs from our former Treasurer.

First he gave me the actual cost of George Rust D'Eye's services for the purpose of "investigating
a leak from the confidentiality of an in- camera meeting".

There was a tie vote, broken by the Mayor, to refuse to sell land at the appraised value to the Regional Police as a site for the Regional Headquarters.

It happened in September. The story came out in November in The Auroran. It must have been a slow leak.

Mr.Rust D'Eye's advice, no investigation results noted, cost a total of $16,200. That was before The Code of Conduct was written. I couldn't find Council's authorisation for that. The Mayor has said several times however, it was written by Mr.Rust D'Eye.

When I asked again for legal costs, the treasurer, gave me invoices for several months. A couple of things stuck out in my reading.

Different hourly rates are charged depending on who is handling what. E-mails and phone calls are charged by minutes that add up to hours. .

There was a fifty-five minute phone call from the Mayor on one invoice which would have cost close to $700.That was a really expensive and secret chit-chat.

Consultations; when a lawyer comes out to meet with council the fee is $5,000.

Remember the post I wrote about no other municipality in the region having any member of council dealing directly with external legal services.

Now you know why. Neither costs nor anything else can be controlled with councillors having free access to legal firms appointed on the basis of fee for service?

Mindful of how easy it is for costs to mount, I do not make unnecessary phone calls. I figure if the MacDonald has anything I need to know or act upon, he will call me.

My daughter who works in the city, acts as my courier.

I haven't heard a whisper around Council. But that's not surprising.

The only change is one made conspicuous by absence. There is a distinct reduction in abuse against myself on the Aurora Citizen Blog. It helps narrow down the source of those anonymous contributions.

A citizen has been trying to obtain the legal report said to support the complaint against me. He has filed a Freedom of Information request but the Town could not provide what they do not have.

The last action in the matter, is that six individuals and two publications have been served with Notice of Intent.

The Auroran and The Banner did what was needed to shift the burden from their shoulders.

That's all I know. Probably because, at the moment, that 's all there is to know.