More Cockamamie Stuff

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Tic-Tac-Toe":

Stuff from closed meetings has always seeped out over time. We all knew about Evalina's switch from gracious smiling councillor into foul-mouthed harridan as soon as those doors were closed. It likely cost her the election as she had been very careful in publiC

*******************************************

Within the last five years, the Province passed legislation allowing citizens to demand  an  investigation of what went on in an in camera meeting, if they suspected something was going on that shouldn't be going on

The town was required to retain an investigation team to conform to the legislation  We did  that   Vaughan is one of our partners.We paid a retainer.

I am not aware that any citizen of Aurora has ever filed a demand for an inquiry into a closed session.

I thought it was just more silly stuff coming out of Queen's Park. A knee jerk reaction to some particular situation so that they could appear to be responsive.

Like the Code of Conduct: an entirely inadequate reaction to the Bellamy Public Inquiry into the Toronto computer scandal.

A city official responsible for computer contracts was being wined and dined, flown about and bedded by a  computer salesman made wealthy with city contracts. Not to mention  the involvement of a city alderman,chairman of a committee with oversight responsibility for spending ,who bought a marvelous mansion and  took his family on  expensive Walt Dinsey vacations with no apparent means of support other than his alderman's  salary.

The official lost her job. The alderman ran for Mayor and  got about two votes. 

The rest of the Province were permitted by magnanimous provincial assent to pass Codes of Conducts that would allow for a penalty of suspension of three months salary for someone found guilty of a breach of  Da Code.

Yesterday  I gave a couple of examples of  code complaints in the city.

 The city has an Integrity Commissioner with an office, staff, and an executive salary.

At the start, Councillors complained about were allowed $5,000 each for a legal  defence. After the first year, the Integrity Commissioner who was a Professor of Law at Queen's University in Kingston, reported to Council ,the allowance was  not being used because it wasn't enough  for the purpose.  He recommended it be increased to $20,000.

They did that.

Aurora's  Integrity Commissioner said he would not  recommended that. It  made the process horrendously expensive.   And besides, most complaints filed were councillors against councillors.

In conversations he had  with other Integrity Commissioners, he  had  learned that was their common  experience.

His mission would be to teach ethics to Councillors  and ensure better conduct that way.

His ideas of  mission were not shared.

We don't hear too much about Code of Conduct complaints any more.