It’s costing the City of Belleville a lot more for the services of an integrity commissioner than what was budgeted for in 2019.
A report given to council on Monday showed that conflict of interest complaints, opinions and other general Integrity Commissioner services have cost the city a total of $35,917.37.
That’s almost $11,000 more than what was set aside in the 2019 budget.
Councillor Pat Culhane told council that using taxpayer dollars to deal with personality conflicts is “beyond a disgrace” and is “intolerable”.
The breakdown shows a cost of $25,911.89 to investigate conflict of interest complaints, with another $4,917.93 to give seven opinions to members of council on potential conflicts.
Belleville Councillor Pat Culhane speaks at a City Council meeting on November 25, 2019. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
He says if councillors are going to enlist the services of the Integrity Commissioner, they should be open and up front when doing so.
The mayor added that the Integrity Commissioner was intended to give more transparency to the public and not be used by councillors to bring investigations against each other.
Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk, during a City Council meeting, on November 25, 2019. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
Councillor Ryan Williams mentioned that he had sought three opinions from the Integrity Commissioner and that as a “rookie councillor” he sees a lot of benefit in that.
Councillor Sean Kelly said he felt the conflict investigations were bringing “a lot of animosity to the team” and it may be more cost effective to get advice from city staff, instead of going to the Integrity Commissioner, with Councillor Paul Carr adding that “the most inexpensive way to get it to stop is to just follow the rules”.
