The following letter is in response to council's discussion on the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry report during a council meeting on Nov. 16. You can read about that here. CollingwoodToday.ca welcomes letters to the editor. They can be sent to [email protected].
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Editor,
Collingwood council held a special council meeting on Monday, Nov. 16 and discussed the judicial inquiry (JI) report that was handed down on Nov. 2. There was no opportunity for public comment.
The mayor, deputy mayor and councillors all praised the report. There was only passing reference to the $7.7 million cost. There was no real discussion of three big issues arising from the report: (1) the massive cost overrun, and (2) the parentage of the original cost estimate and (3) the potential for civil litigation to try to recoup some of Collingwood’s cost.
The mayor told me that the next opportunity for public input would be perhaps in January when a staff report might be presented at a Strategic Initiatives Committee meeting.
I am personally very disappointed with that. I feel strongly that there needs to be a special public meeting on the JI, and sooner rather than later. Surely I can’t be the only Collingwood resident with serious concerns around the massive cost overrun and lack of news on further legal recourse?
If and when I ever get the opportunity to address council, I would ask:
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What about the cost? The original estimate, presented to council by then CAO Fareed Amin and Treasurer Marjorie Leonard, was that it might cost between $1.3 and $1.6 million. What was the source of that number? Was there due diligence by staff and council as to the likelihood of (much) higher cost? Did they even look at the Mississauga McCallion Inquiry that, was budgeted at $2.5 million and came in at $7.5 million? The mayor asked council (and the public) to authorize the calling of the JI based on a $1.6 potential cost. Was he misled? Or was he misleading? If so those councillors have every right to feel, as I do, that they were bamboozled.
If the town’s works department had completed a sewer installation project that came in at nearly five times the original estimate, don’t you think that serious questions would be asked? And that maybe heads would roll? That original number was so far out of whack as to be highly suspect. Was it deliberately understated? If so by whom?
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How much value is there in the JI? Was it worth $7.7 million? We pretty much already knew who the miscreants were, and for how much we were ripped off. Yes, there are 306 recommendations, mostly around improving governance. However, I submit that had the town retained consultants, they could have generated similar governance improvement guidelines for maybe $250,000?
So, did we receive nearly $8 million worth of value? Not even close.
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Follow up: What is council’s plan for civil litigation? For example, what is the likelihood of success of a civil proceeding against the four individuals and PowerStream to recoup some of the JI’s $7.7 million costs? We’re entitled to know where we stand on that.
That $7.7 million is gone, and never coming back! It didn’t buy anything with lasting value, like infrastructure, parks, or debt retirement. By this time next year, that report will be as stale last week’s newspaper. What a colossal waste of money!
So, please let’s have a robust public input session in December where we, the public, get the opportunity to share our views on the entire imbroglio.
John Megarry
Collingwood, ON
