Mayor confident in Ombudsman report
Mayor Walter Sendzik is putting more stock in an Ontario Ombudsman report about regional council than another recent report about the hiring of the region’s CAO.
“My first reaction when I read the Ombudsman report and then the one from ADR is the Ombudsman report is how a report should be presented,” Sendzik said Friday during his monthly online video chat #AskSendzik at The Standard.
“That was a very thorough investigation on an incident that happened within a very short period of time.”
Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube published his report Wednesday about his team’s investigation of a Dec. 7 Niagara Regional council meeting in which a Standard reporter and a citizen blogger were ejected and their equipment seized.
The office’s special Ombudsman response team conducted 52 interviews, including regional staff, council members and other witnesses as well as reviewed relevant documents, video and the audio from the citizen blogger’s recorder.
The resulting report Press Pause report made 14 recommendations to regional council, which will be discussed at a special meeting Thursday.
The earlier report examining the hiring of Carmen D'Angelo was presented to regional council by Marvin Huberman of the Toronto firm ADR Chambers on July 5.
Sendzik, who raised questions about the Huberman report’s methods and conclusions in council but has confidence in the Ombudsman’s report, was asked what the difference was between them.
Sendzik said his impression was the report from ADR wasn’t well done or well researched.
“There’s a lot of questions that the ADR report presented, that were left hanging.
“The individual who wrote the report didn’t come across to me as very strong in his understanding of what was requested, in his understanding of the roles of an ombudsman, because we gave him all the powers of an ombudsman.
“That report was lacking and left me with a lot more questions than answers.”
Sendzik said he has the “utmost confidence” in the Ombudsman report but, “not a lot in the previous one on the hiring of the CAO.”
The whole video chat can be seen on The Standard’s website.
Sendzik also touched on other issues during the chat including the city’s water bottle ban in its facilities and answered readers’ questions related to Rex Stimers Arena, the former GM lands on Ontario Street, the opioid crisis and making regional councillors accountable.
It was the last monthly #AskSendzik chat before the October municipal election.