Mayor to chair police finance committee
Mayor Daryl Bennett, at his second meeting since returning to the police services board, has been elected finance/budget chairman of the board.
Elections for various positions on the police board for 2018 – such as chairman, vice-chairman and finance chairman – took place at a board meeting at police headquarters on Water St. on Tuesday evening. Board members are nominated and then they vote.
Bob Hall retained his position as chairman of the board and Coun. Dan McWilliams was elected vice-chairman.
When board member Ken East said he was happy to allow someone else to take over his position as finance/budget chairman, Bennett was nominated.
“I don’t see myself as having any conflict,” he said, and accepted the nomination. A minute later, he was voted in.
Bennett returned to the police board for the first time in five years at a meeting Dec. 5. He was suspended from the board five years ago over allegations of misconduct.
Bennett was suspended, investigated and found guilty – but later freed from almost all blame and told he could return to the board.
The mayor’s relationship with the police and the police board has been filled with controversy, much of it stemming to budget debates.
The tumult started in 2011, the year of a bitter feud between the police and council over money: the police had asked for too much to run the force in 2012, in Bennett’s opinion, and the mayor wasn’t afraid to say so in public.
Soon after that, Bennett was suspended from the police board while the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) investigated 11 allegations of misconduct brought against him.
After a lengthy hearing in 2014, the OCPC found Bennett guilty of all 11 allegations; the OCPC told him he was banned for life from the police board.
But when Bennett vowed to take the matter to court, 10 of the 11 findings against him were dropped.
The one finding that stuck is that he made disparaging comments about Chief Rodd; the mayor says he stands by his comments and hasn’t apologized.
Nonetheless Bennett was legally entitled to return to the board - even though a report released in August that strongly recommended he not go back.
Toronto lawyer Mark Sandler was asked by the OCPC a year ago to oversee the police board for the first six months of 2017 and then write a report recommending changes to make the board more functional.
Sandler’s report stated that it would be “unwise” for the mayor to return to the board because the board is trying to leave behind “a tumultuous period”, and bringing the mayor back on the board will make that difficult.
But Bennett disregarded that advice and put himself back on the board for a one-year term starting Nov. 30. (Coun. Dave Haacke stepped down from the board to allow Bennett to return).
Meanwhile the debates over police budgets have simmered down: when council adopted its 2018 budget in December, it included a 2.2 per cent increase for Peterborough Police to run the service this year compare to last ($544,847 more).
In total, the police can expect roughly $24.9 million to operate the force in 2018, up from about $24.4 million in 2017.
It was the first time in years councillors didn’t ask the police board to trim their budget before approval.