Don’t expect NPCA to reveal legal costs: Annunziata
Don’t expect to see how much it cost the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority to take activist Ed Smith to court.
NPCA board chair Sandy Annunziata reminded Fort Erie town council that chances are slim the public will ever find out how much the agency spent on its lawsuit against Smith.
At Monday’s regular council meeting, after he provided recent highlights from regional council, Annunziata was asked whether the NPCA will be revealing its legal costs in the $100,000 defamation suit against Smith.
Annunziata told Fort Erie council the NPCA does annually disclose its total legal expenditures, but not each case individually.
There are privacy and solicitorclient issues that get in the way, but if an NPCA board member wishes to bring forward a request to disclose the price tag of taking Smith to court, that can be done at Wednesday’s NPCA meeting, which would then be followed by legal advice that Annunziata says will likely suggest revealing the figure would not be appropriate.
Annunziata said he would be “more than happy to bring that forward” but based on the discussion already held, it might be a long shot.
“I don’t know too many municipalities or public agencies that break out individual costs,” said Annunziata.
Ward 2 Coun. Stephen Passero said that since this issue has received so much public attention, Annunziata should be the one making a recommendation to divulge what the NPCA spent in the recent court case.
“I hope you would encourage or implore your fellow board members to put that forward and release that information,” said Passero.
Annunziata said the NPCA’s audited financial statement will explain its annual legal costs, which are lumped into a one-line item on its $10-million budget.
He said the NPCA should stick to its policies that revealing caseby-case costs is not a direction it should proceed in.
“We don’t govern based on headlines,” said Annunziata.
Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said he looks forward to ongoing efforts being made by NPCA to be more open with the taxpayers of Niagara, which could result in the requested figure eventually being released.
“I’m confident that in view of their new policy of transparency and accountability, we’ll see that information coming forward,” said Redekop.
NPCA, jointly with its former CAO and current Niagara Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo, sued Smith in connection with a report Smith authored in 2016 that alleged NPCA was rife with conflict of interest problems and engaged in other questionable practices. NOTL businessman William Montgomery also sued Smith.
The plaintiffs claimed Smith had defamed them in his report.
On Nov. 23, Superior Court Judge James Ramsay dismissed the legal actions, expressing disappointment in how NPCA reacted to Smith and his report, Ramsay ruled that the authority’s actions ran contrary to the Canadian value of free expression.
“There are many places in the world where I might expect such a thing to happen, but not in our beloved dominion,” he said.
In a January ruling, Ramsay followed up his original decision by ordering the NPCA and D’Angelo to pay Smith $131,076 in legal costs. NPCA is covering D’Angelo’s costs in the case. Ramsay also ordred Montgomery to pay Smith $48,172 in costs.