Council CHAOS

Four years of controversy at Niagara Region

Three Ombudsman’s investigations. One Auditor General’s probe. Two integrity commissioners. Lawsuits big and small. Attacks on the press, politicians and members of the public. This past term of Niagara Region’s council has been marked by a steady flow of controversies from councillors’ expense reports to the tainted hiring of the chief administrative officer.

With the next election just days away, here is a look at the chaos of council along with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and the Niagara Regional Police services board, the two agencies it controls.

2014

MUNICIPAL ELECTION OCT. 27: The last municipal election brought significant change to the regional council, with several influential members retiring and replaced by a new wave of politicians. When the dust settled, an alliance of conservative-minded councillors held the balance of power.

CASLIN BECOMES CHAIR DEC. 11:

Secondterm councillor Alan Caslin of St. Catharines, a quiet member of the previous council, is elected regional chair by his fellow councillors in a secret vote of 18 to 12.

2015

THE GODFREY MEETING FEB. 10, 2015: The office of St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra invites a select group of Niagara politicians to meet with thenStandard owner and Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey. The politicians sign a memo accusing the paper of manufacturing news and intimidating politicians. Among the attendees is NPCA CAO Carmen D’Angelo, who later asks Godfrey to fire The Standard’s management and install a more “receptive” team. Godfrey does not act on

the request.

INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER FIRED FEB. 26:

Council votes to get rid of the integrity commissioner because the position is too expensive and council can police itself. It also votes to give itself a pay raise greater than the total 2014 cost of the commissioner.

PETROWSKI ON TWITTER JUNE 27:

St. Catharines councillor and police board member Andy

Petrowski attacks former U.S. president Barack Obama, saying he had a “perverted mind” for supporting gay marriage. He would later say gay marriage was the moral equivalent of murder.

THE NRPS SURVEY AUGUST TO SEPTEMBER:

The police services board pays D’Angelo $25,000 to do a survey to help shape its three-year business plan. The survey’s methodological problems were exposed by The Standard and one board member. In a letter to board chair Bob Gale, D’Angelo blames “libellous editorials” in The Standard for eroding the public trust in his survey.

ILLEGAL MEETING: DEC. 1:

The Ontario Ombudsman rules regional council violated the Municipal Act in May when it held a closed-door meeting about long-term care facilities.

ZERO BUDGET DEC. 3:

Regional council sets a budget for 2016 with a budget that is $6 million larger than 2015 but has a zero per cent tax increase by leaning on provincial uploading and draining of reserve funds. The police board follows suit, triggering years of deficit spending.

2016

THUNDERING WATERS MARCH 30: Council’s planning committee, led by Grimsby councillor and NPCA board member Tony Quirk, votes to support the notion of bio-diversity offsetting to support a Chinese developer’s plans to build a complex on provincially sensitive wetlands. The already controversial project will hound the NPCA for the next two years.

SCHLANGE DRAMA APRIL 8:

Then regional CAO Harry Schlange quits after months of conflict with

Caslin. His resignation letter is pointedly critical of the conduct of council. Eleven days later, D’Angelo downloads drafts of confidential chair’s reports on the CAO position, tainting the hiring process before it officially started.

INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER REHIRED DEC. 7: Unable to handle the volume of integrity complaints against councillors, Caslin moves for council to hire a new commissioner.

2017

BRIDGE AUDIT MARCH 17: The secret $500,000 bridge audit report is leaked to The Standard. It finds a host of procedural and policy problems with regional procurement processes, but does not find anything criminal. Councillors ask police to investigate. The OPP confirms in 2018 that nothing criminal happened.

MCGUIRE RETIRES JUNE 23: After months of tension with NRPS board chair Bob Gale and the board, Chief Jeff McGuire suddenly retires after the board offers him a nearly $1-million buyout.

HODGSON CENSURE APRIL 26: NPCA board chair and Fort Erie regional councillor Sandy Annunziata publicly censures board member and Lincoln regional councillor Bill Hodgson, alleging Hodgson tainted the hiring process of an external auditor.

EXPENSES SEPT. 1: The Standard publishes the details of regional councillor expenses which showed councillors bill citizens for lobster dinners, charitable donations and trips to appear on Toronto radio shows.

D’ANGELO HIRED OCT. 31: After downloading more confidential documents, including interview questions and info on his competition, D’Angelo is hired as regional CAO.

SMITH LAWSUIT NOVEMBER 26: The NPCA loses a defamation suit it brought against local activist Ed Smith. In a sharply worded decisions, Justice James Ramsay criticizes the NPCA board for its actions. Ramsay later rules the NPCA has to pay Smith $131,000 in legal costs.

SAWCHUK INCIDENT DECEMBER 7: Regional council, led by Caslin and D’Angelo, illegally seizes the computer and notes of Standard reporter Bill Sawchuk, triggering another Ombudsman’s investigation.

PELHAM ATTACK MARCH 2017MARCH 2018: Regional councillors begin a year-long effort to interfere in the finances of the Town of Pelham calling for the province to order an investigation. St. Catharines, Welland, Port Colborne and Thorold ask the Region to stop. The battle ends when Infrastructure Ontario rejects the Region’s requests.

2018

ALL THE CHAIR’S MEN APRIL 6: The Standard publishes the first in a series of stories detailing how the hiring of D’Angelo was tainted when he downloaded documents written by members of Caslin’s staff.

GARBAGE WOES SEPTEMBER: After receiving an unprecedented three year contract extension to collect garbage for the Region, Emterra Environmental routinely misses pick up times, prompting regional staff to dock the company’s pay. Some councillors, including Caslin, want to avoid fines.

AUDITOR GENERAL SEPT 27: After years of calls for an audit of the NPCA, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk issues her report on the agency, finding it is plagued by systemic problems.