NPCA moving forward with audit directions
Report on agency found significant operational issues
In one of its last acts, the outgoing Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board of directors formally received and voted to support the recommendations in the Auditor General’s report on the organization.
“We welcome the recommendations from the auditor general,” said Mark Brickell, the NPCA’s chief administrative officer.
“There are a total of 24 recommendations, six of which are directed to the ministry, four to the NPCA board, and the remaining 14 to NPCA operations. We are responding to every single recommendation.
“We have a progress report where you can track every initiative and find out whether we have initiated it, if it is underway or we have completed it.
“I believe there are nine completed items. Every other one is at least initiated or underway, except for ones that are about how the new board will respond.”
The provincial legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts directed Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk to undertake an audit of the NPCA amid growing public concern and criticism of how the agency was operating.
The review took nine months and produced a 108-page report released Sept. 27.
The report found significant operational issues that need to be addressed and restore public trust and deliver its programs and services economically, efficiently and effectively.
The report noted some NPCA board
“We are happy to move on them, and we are implementing the recommendations fully.” MARK BRICKELL NPCA CAO
members — a majority of whom are elected officials, such as mayors and councillors — involved themselves in the day-to-day operations of the NPCA and their involvement was not always perceived as positive by employees of the NPCA and the public.
The board meeting was the first since the report was released. A majority of members aren’t returning. They were either defeated in last month’s municipal elections or moving on from local politics.
Brickell said the AG’s recommendations are mostly straightforward, and the NPCA had begun working on some before the report was published.
“We are happy to move on them, and we are implementing the recommendations fully,” Brickell said. “They will make us that much better. As an organization, we are well poised to act on these.”
A staff report to the board said NPCA has completed work on some of the recommendations — including publishing board per diems and expenses annually online, finalizing policies for reviewing development proposals and ensuring the criteria for where development is allowed is consistent with both provincial policy statements and the Conservation Authorities Act.
Brickell said the AG will return in two years to check on the NPCA’s progress.
“On behalf of the Hamilton taxpayer, I just want to make sure the report goes forward to the next board and that it be implemented,” said board member Stewart Beattie. “I don’t want anything dropped. It’s a good report.”
Board chair Sandy Annunziata assured Beattie that the NPCA is “100 per cent” in agreement with the recommendations in the report, and the report will be used as a “tool and resource” by staff moving forward.
The board entertained a proposal to direct $140,000 in surplus operating funds to help staff in implementing the recommendations, but Beattie was successful in his motion to forward the full sum to the next board without any strings attached.
“I was of the opinion, and I am still of the opinion, that this should be referred to the new board,” he said. “They will have $140,000 to share or use as they see fit. I don’t think we should hobble them with our recommendations.”