Saints Preserve Us

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Trail Continues":

But should a Georgina resident sue any of them over the breach in the Act, wouldn't it still be our taxes footing their defence through their insurance policies? Isn't that what passing the by-law was about anyway (given that Mayor and council were already financially protected should someone sue them but not the other way around)?

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The Conflict of Interest charges against Aurora's ex-Mayor  have been  filed by a resident. The ex-Mayor will not be indemnified   since she is no longer a member of Council.

It does have to be a citizen who takes the action at his/her own expense. That's how serious the Province is about enforcing Conflict of Interest prohibitions.

They stick us with four year terms of office and  responsibility of private citizens having to enforce their laws.

 Aurora's  gang of six  continue to be indemnified  under another suit, apparently because they were councillors when the action began and even though they started the legal process with their phoney baloney Code of Conduct and a lawyer to contrive a complaint  who was paid a fee of $70,000.

I have been informed  the insurance company initially refused to indemnify. But yet another legal opinion was obtained  at taxpayer's expense to convince them they should.

I have tried to discover the total amount spent on legal fees from the start of  the four year term . Except at the beginning , before the wholesale turnover of staff ,I was stonewalled by staff and politicians. I haven't finished with it yet.

In Aurora, legal costs for the ex-Mayor's last Hurrah  of suing three residents, had not been paid  by the time of the election. . The new council  retained another lawyer at another  fee of $8,000. to tell them what to do. Of course  he advised the  lawyer's  bill should be paid.  So they did. They paid the  $65,000
tab run up by the defeated Mayor up to December 1st..

It seems to be a generational thing. Modern Councillors tend to  believe they are not  obliged to exercise any judgement. They need to be advised every step of the way by their professional superiors.
If the professional says it, it must be right.

It must have something to do with the educational system.

Councillors also willingly make themselves available to lobbyists and let themselves be persuaded to hand over the keys of  the kingdom willy nilly .

It fairly makes a mockery of everything I understand about accountability.

But...what do I know ?

From the extreme of getting rid of all staff who offered a hint of resistance to  the harridans, to the other extreme of  presenting  a soft plushy body to plunder with ultimately the same result:

The taxpayers get hosed.

But I digress.

Municipalities purchase indemnification policies to hedge against insurance claims. Premiums are paid.
If  claim are valid, the insurance company pays.

Indemnification does not provide for politicians or staff to sue people.  

Mayor Grossi's litigation could not be paid by the insurance company. They should not have been paid with  public funds either. Except for Council taking the extraordinary step of passing a bylaw. 

The community needs to see the bylaw. Who signed it ?.  Is the Mayor's signature on the dotted line ?   Is the Clerk's?

The clerk, who allowed Council to roll right on from a Council- in -Committee meeting into a Special Meeting  of Council without public notice or circulation of an agenda to notify the community of what their  Council is about.

Oh My Gawd!!