Bill Hodgson, NPCA chairman square off over audit
A member of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority board says his agency is attempting to silence him after an email from the board chairman.
“I was shocked by the email,” said Bill Hodgson, who is also a regional councillor for Lincoln. “I would love to think it is a product of the NPCA chair’s inexperience and naivety. That’s what I want to think.
“It is nuanced, but I take it as a threat — and it was delivered disrespectfully by a junior staff member.”
Hodgson received an email from the conservation authority on behalf of chairman Sandy Annunziata demanding he explain his opposition to the wording to an RFP (request for proposal).
The agency issued the RFP to conduct operational and forensic audits after pressure from the public and elected officials.
Hodgson told Lincoln town council last week he believes his motion, which started the process of conducting a third-party audit, was altered after it was passed.
Michael Reles, a staff communication specialist for NPCA, sent the email Sunday.
It read: “In response to your regional councillor’s report at the Monday, March 20, Town of Lincoln council meeting, the chair has asked me to contact you for your written submissions to support a claim you made.
“Specifically, he is requesting you address the claim that ‘They say they’re following the resolution, but, really, a Grade 2 student would understand, you’re not following the resolution.’
“He (the chair) is also requesting that this is done in advance of our board of directors meeting on Wednesday.”
Hodgson told The Standard his original motion called for all reporting, updates, and recommendations from the auditor to be directed to the full board — and not vetted beforehand.
“What they have done is create a staff project steering committee,” Hodgson said. “Anything from the consultant will go directly to the staff as a draft. Everything from there will go to an audit steering committee led by Tony Quirk (a board member and Grimsby regional councillor). Where that came from, I have no idea.
“Then it will come to the full board as a final document. That is totally at odds with the motion.”
Hodgson replied to Reles by email later Sunday by saying he was looking forward to engaging in a discussion on the subject at Thursday’s open board meeting.
Annunziata, who is a regional councillor for Fort Erie, then responded directly by email. Annunziata said the RFP fulfilled every aspect of Hodgson’s motion, as well the conservation authority’s procedural bylaws.
He also doubled down on demanding an explanation about Hodgson’s remarks to Lincoln town council.
“I think you would agree, it is inappropriate to prejudice an open, currently ongoing RFP process with inaccurate commentary that could potentially dissuade a party from coming forward and submitting a proposal.
“You have made a public statement … I would please ask you again to support your claim. If you can please provide your written submissions to me prior to Wednesday.”
Hodgson said he has an obligation to speak out as an elected official. He doesn’t need to justify himself to the chairman.
“I think they are just getting desperate,” Hodgson said. “I’m the only dissenting voice on the board, and the effort to silence me is beyond the pale — and the last straw as far as I am concerned.
“From my point of view, it is time for the premier to step in and appoint a supervisor.”
Peter Graham, NPCA interim CAO, said any changes in the motion were grammatical in nature, and any suggestion that Hodgson’s motion “has been compromised in any way is without merit.”
“As I indicated at the March 8 special board meeting, I am committed to ensuring the consultant selection process is completed with the utmost integrity. The change has no effect on the spirit or the intent of the motion.”
Annunziata said the RFP has already gone forward, and no one on the board was to be involved in writing its terms. That is his reading of the intent of Hodgson’s motion.
“A request for proposal was publicly advertised on March 10,” Annunziata said in an email to The Standard. “That RFP closes on April 9.
“We will respect an open, transparent process without prejudice. As per the terms of the Hodgson motion, ratified unanimously by the board on Feb. 15, the board has had zero involvement in that process. The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has committed to an independent, arm’s-length, thirdparty operational review and performance assessment from 20112016. That’s exactly the path will continue to pursue.”
Hodgson is also wondering aloud why the conservation authority didn’t accept an offer, made on Jan. 24 by Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, to conduct the review. Her office would pay for the audit. The final product would also be above reproach in Hodgson’s mind.
Annunziata has said the door remains open for the auditor general to step in further down the road, in what would be Phase 2 of the audit.
Hodgson said he doesn’t believe that is going to happen.
“They haven’t said it directly, but I sat there and listened to the explanations, and I know what they mean,” he said. “Without a doubt, in my mind, they feel they couldn’t control the auditor general.
“The auditor general doesn’t report to a staff project team. The auditor general reports to the people of Ontario. They couldn’t control what the auditor general would say.
“Trust me, they have no intention of ever agreeing to use the auditor general. It is not going to happen.”
Reles responded for the agency by saying, “It is too early to presuppose whether the auditor general would be utilized in Phase 2.”
The authority has set aside $150,000 for the audit, and the first phase is expected to be completed by June 15. A decision on whether to proceed to a second, deeper phase, is scheduled to be made on June 30.