City Hall Ethics Pass
City Council voted on two motions regarding ethics on Wednesday; both stemming from allegations that Winnipeg’s Mayor Sam Katz was in conflict during a lease renegotiation deal last September.
One motion was from City Councillor Gord Steeves. He wanted to see the city establish an “Accountability Commissioner” to review the politicians and city employees; enacting a whistle blower hotline; and to create an “enhanced expense account monitoring reporting system”.
While the Mayor agreed with the idea, he was short on votes as two of his allies were not present. Steeves’ motion was defeated by left-leaning Councillors who preferred to approve fellow Councillor Jenny Gerbasi’s alternative motion to call on the province to be the one to create a “Conflict of Interest Commissioner”. The vote passed narrowly by 7-6.
Passing the buck appears to be Gerbasi’s forté.
Gerbasi essentially made a motion to call on the Province to employ an ethical accountability mechanism, instead of Steeve’s motion which would have the City directly handle such issues.
A spokesperson for the Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, Steve Ashton, told the Winnipeg Free Press that they don’t even understand Gerbasi’s motion, questioning why the city doesn’t “use existing legislation to do what they’re proposing”. One would think a City Councillor belonging to the political party that happens to be in power of the Province, might want to check with her friends to see if her motion has teeth. It’s lazy to call on another level of government and even more lazy (or strange) why you wouldn’t validify your own work.
The Mayor suggested to the Winnipeg Free Press why it was that certain City Councillors voted against Steeves’ motion; expense account irregularities.
“There’s no secret about that. Many councillors don’t want people knowing when they’re buying tickets to what type of events of what (political) parties they’re supporting. Or what restaurants they’re going to.”
I agree with the Mayor here.
Each City Councillor receives a Ward Allowance of $70,000 to pay for an assistant, office supplies and travel costs. Because each City Councillor represents an average of 50,000 people, an assistant and office supplies are often required and the allowance is just. However, the problem is that there is no line-by-line expense list, instead there is simply expense categories. This makes it impossible for the public to know how effective their elected representatives are spending taxpayer funds. The public *can* however apply for information invidividually.
What’s more concerning is that there is no inventory of purchased assets. City Councillors have made expensive material purchases only to disappear when the Councillor leaves office.
Having worked at City Council, I can attest that there are “account irregularities” and I have no doubt that some of those who voted against Steeves’ motion for acknowledge this as well. I still can’t figure out how Councillors can amass a $5,000 phone bill in one year.. ? Or why certain Councillors somehow need a brand new computer every year, and what happened to the old equipment.
Gerbasi applauded herself in her newsletter by believing this was a defeat for the Mayor. It wasn’t. Steeves was the one who made the motion, not the Mayor, and it was those who wanted real accountability who were defeated.
