Mr. D’Angelo should have said no

Controversy continues to swirl around Niagara Region’s embattled CAO Carmen D’Angelo.

This time it comes from his decision to write advertorial content, published in the fall of 2017, about an ambulance manufacturer’s products. The piece, published in the Canadian Paramedicine magazine’s annual buyers’ guide, highlights a vehicle made by Crestline, the rival of Demers Ambulance, a company from which Niagara EMS has purchased for years. These companies have since merged, but at the time were in competition for Niagara’s business.

In October 2017, regional council approved its 2018 capital budget, which included about $3 million for the replacement of 18 Niagara EMS ambulances.

In November 2017, Niagara EMS issued a report recommending the purchase of Demers vehicles. D’Angelo sent the report back, asking for information about other manufacturers. When EMS Niagara reached out to other companies, Crestline expressed interest. However, at the time Crestline didn’t manufacture a diesel ambulance chassis. Niagara EMS uses diesel because of lower fuel consumption costs, durability and high resale value. Niagara had previously purchased ambulances from Crestline but switched to Demers when Crestline discontinued its diesel product.

D’Angelo further muddied the waters by suggesting to Crestline the Region could defer purchase of some ambulances to give the company time to make one acceptable to Niagara. This proposal never came to anything.

The writing of this type of promotional material for companies doing business, or seeking to do business, with the Region raises questions around conflict of interest.

It should be noted D’Angelo says he wasn’t paid to write the article and was approached by the magazine to do so. He was writing such articles before being hired as the Region’s CAO in 2016.

“Listen, I have nothing to gain, there’s nothing in it for me to choose one manufacturer or the other,” the CAO said during an interview with reporter Grant LaFleche. “There’s absolutely nothing for personal gain. If there’s no personal gain, then I don’t have a conflict of interest. There’s nothing there. I don’t get anything from Crestline. A conflict of interest is only when I’m getting something of benefit or someone in my immediate family is getting something of benefit.”

It should also be noted the D’Angelo says he made the offer to defer the purchase of some ambulances because he was concerned Niagara EMS was sole-sourcing its ambulance purchases and he wanted to see a “competitive market.”

But it appears the CAO is missing the point as well as the import of the Region’s own conflict of interest policy for staff. That policy says “if a potential or real conflict of interest exists because an employee is promoting a service or product, customers may see the employee as a representative of the Region,” and must disclose the potential conflict to his/her manager, which in D’Angelo’s case would be regional council.

There is certainly an appearance of a conflict of interest here, if not an actual pecuniary one. D’Angelo’s meddling in the purchase process creates a worse impression. D’Angelo, whose hiring in 2016 is currently under investigation by the Ontario ombudsman’s office, must understand that appearances do matter.

D’Angelo has wide authority over Niagara Region’s spending policies and decisions. He must learn to show better judgment. He says he wasn’t paid, he says he wrote for this magazine prior to being Niagara Region CAO. None of this matters.

When the publisher of an EMS buyers’ guide comes to a municipal CAO who has authority over the purchase of EMS equipment, and asks him or her to write advertorial-style articles about EMS products, the answer that municipal CAO must give is clear: Thanks, but no.