Council to decide how to handle foreign trips
City staff recommends council deal with investor-funded trips for the mayor and senior staff on a caseby-case basis.
In a report scheduled to go before council Tuesday, staff also suggests politicians may want to establish a budget for business missions for situations where they feel the circumstances dictate it would be better for the municipality to cover the expenses.
The funds for these trips would be taken from the business development operating budget.
“As in the past, staff should be selective in their approach (to going on these trips) ensuring the project is viable with a strong possibility of execution,” reads the report.
During the past 15 months, Mayor Jim Diodati, chief administrative officer Ken Todd and director of business development Serge Felicetti have travelled — on the dime of developers — to China and Romania to learn more about investment interest in Niagara Falls.
It has led some to question whether taking all-expense paid trips abroad is the right way to handle such opportunities, or if it may create a real, or perceived, bias in future decision making.
Council directed staff to investigate and report back on how other municipalities approach business missions requested and paid for by foreign investors.
Staff contacted the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for their input, states the report.
Ministry staff stated “quite emphatically” they have no official position and it was up to each municipality to choose whether private or public funds should be used.
Ministry staff did stress, regardless of the decision made, members of the municipality going on the mission should ensure there is no conflict of interest.
Ministry staff said they saw merits to both public and privately funded business trips.
Staff was recently invited to Romania by a private-sector investment/development group who were confidentially exploring various jurisdictions in Ontario and eastern United States as a location for their project.
The proponents spent a couple of days in Niagara Falls investigating possible sites and gaining a better understanding of the market.
During their visit they met with Diodati and senior staff.
“From their initial due diligence, the proponent felt strongly Niagara Falls could be a good location for their project,” notes the report.
The group requested Diodati and senior staff visit Romania at the group’s expense to get a better appreciation of the size and scope of the project being contemplated.
The proponents asked for confidentiality during their due diligence period.
Diodati, Todd and Felicetti travelled to Romania on Thanksgiving Day, spent two days with proponents and obtained more detailed information on their development.
During the past six years, Diodati and senior staff have travelled on similar business missions, twice to China and to India and Dubai at the investors/developers request, with expenses covered by the investment group.
With the previous trips, Diodati informed council of the invitation and offer to cover expenses.
“Unfortunately in the case of the Romania trip, the request was extended unexpectedly while the mayor was away on holidays and he wasn’t able to inform council in advance,” reads the report.
“It is important to note that when dealing with foreign investment and development groups it is part of their business culture to have the mayor and senior staff of the municipality visit their operations in their respective country to get a better appreciation of their capabilities and view first-hand the developments they have completed. It also illustrates to them the municipality is interested in their investment opportunity and not indifferent to it.”
Staff said it reached out to a number of municipalities of varying sizes across the country to understand how they approached investor funded trips.
The survey of municipalities concluded each community treats investor-funded business trips differently with some utilizing public funds while others have private entities cover the expenses.