Battle over Pelham finances fizzles
Town learns it will get its financing after day of back-and-forth
This round of the battle of Pelham ended not with a bang but a whimper.
The town had its legal counsel at Regional Council Thursday locked and loaded to answer questions that arose during a debate over whether the Regional Chair and Treasurer should sign a letter acknowledging the Region intended to follow through on a deal to finance Pelham’s new $36-million community centre.
The item was, however, removed from the agenda before the opening gavel fell.
Regional Chair Alan Caslin, reading from a prepared statement, said the Pelham debt item had been removed because there was “no decision point for council."
“We were informed by Infrastructure Ontario today that they do not require any action by Niagara Region or council at this time,” Caslin read.
Caslin added a motion from the audit committee declaring the Region would not support Pelham in acquiring any more financing for project unless certain conditions were met was null and void.
That motion was dependant on what some members of the audit committee believed was Pelham's recalcitrance in turning over a document known as the “Summer Audit" to Regional staff for inspection.
“The Town of Pelham and KPMG jointly told staff yesterday there is no 'Summer Audit,' ” Caslin read. “The town and KPMG jointly indicated that they had retained legal council to conduct an HR investigation, who in turn hired KPMG to participate in the investigation.”
Caslin said the Region had then informed Infrastructure Ontario that since there was no Summer Audit, Pelham could never meet terms of the motion and it was therefore no longer
applicable.
“Infrastructure Ontario is satisfied, and they confirmed they would provide the town with the requested short-term loan. Therefore there is no decision point for this council to make at this time.”
Carmen D’Angelo told the council that should Infrastructure Ontario require assurance, the chair and treasurer would indeed sign the acknowledgement.
“There were a lot of moving parts today,” D’Angelo told the council.
Pelham’s lawyer Donald DeLorenzo thanked the staff for the work they have done to resolve this issue .
“With the position the Region is taking, if they will sign the acknowledgement, I need say nothing further to say — so I won’t.”
After the meeting, Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn said he wasn’t sure what had changed, but knowing the chair and treasurer would sign the letter was all the assurance he needed.
“I’m very pleased that it is over and we met all the criteria,” Augustyn said. “I’m looking forward to the substantial completion of the community centre. It is such a huge community asset. There has been so much discussion about financing. That’s behind us now. What is ahead of us is the very exciting Meridian Community Centre.”
Under normal circumstances, the town would deal with Infrastructure Ontario directly. That didn't happen because regional council voted in November to send Infrastructure Ontario a letter that declared the Region would defer future Pelham financing until it received additional information, the now infamous, 'Summer Audit."
The Region acts as a clearing house for the 12 municipalities when they want to finance major projects. By bundling all the region's debt, a better rate is obtained.
Augustyn said the town intends to pay the money it is getting from Infrastructure Ontario back through its fundraising efforts, which are nearly complete, and land sales, which are moving ahead.