Strengthen Oversight of Mayor and Council

It seems that at every turn, some Councillors are putting up roadblocks against good governance.  Transparency, accountability, openness may seem to be lacking substance in the opinion of some Newmarket politicians, (ahem, Regional Councillor Taylor), but it would be very stupid to overlook what these values mean to Newmarket residents. 

I had an opportunity to look at information from the Ombudsman's Office and/or Auditor General's office for other provinces in Canada as well as our own.  The complaints coming against municipal councils/ councillors seem at first to be varied.  Some complaints dealt with questionable spending.  Other complaints focused on apparent conflicts of interests.  I saw complaints concerning record keeping, tendering for municipal projects, and even how the municipal government sold off it's surplus vehicles.  On the surface, there appears to be little connection but I think the underlying issue is the same in each case - a lack of transparency and accountability. 

What I saw when looking at these cases was clear evidence that the complainants were correct.  Upon investigation, the provincial investigator found instances of poor decision making, questionable accounting, and a disregard for transparency.  Having a case of outright fraud is very rare but don't underestimate the millions of taxpayers money that is wasted through lax or inadequate governance. 

Unfortunately there are very few places for residents to go for help if they have a problem with the governance at Newmarket Town Hall.  For example, when a Richmond Hill Councillor sent in a bill for his new set of golf clubs, the Mayor suggested that it was no business of the Town to address his poor judgment.  Instead, the Mayor referred the matter to voters (with years to go until the next election).  To be forced to wait four years until election time before getting a chance to give him the boot seems to be a weakness in our system.  Unlike in the old days when people expected common decency from those in public office, today we can't rely on a politician to have the integrity to resign when he finds himself in the hoosegow.  (Ahem, Councillor Emanuel). 

I would like to see a mandate coming from the Province requiring the Regional Government to set up a municipal audit unit.  The auditing unit would be tasked with showing up unannounced to conduct an audit of each municipality and make sure that the local government is operating to the best governance standards. 

Here are a few items that the Regional audit unit could investigate:

1) Complaints from residents about the professional conduct of any municipal politician
2) Confirming the results of the year end audits of the municipality.  The year end audits rarely find any issues with the town because the town employees know when the audit is going to happen.  If the audit is a surprise visit, it's harder to sweep certain things under the rug.
3) Reviewing and commenting on the adequacy of certain reserving practices
4) Overseeing complaints concerning the tendering policies of the municipality to ensure transparency
5) Auditing in camera meetings (by actually attending the session) to ensure conformity to the municipality's policies
6) Auditing the police department, fire department, municipally owned electrical utilities, public libraries, public transit and other quasi-autonomous municipal entities to ensure good governance and transparency.

Here are just a few benefits of having a Regional audit unit:

1) Greater public transparency because municipal audit reports would be published and available to the public.  This gives the public improved information when voting.  For example, when a Mayor says he is a good manager, the public will have an unbiased assessment of the Mayor's management ability to be able to judge his opinion.
2) Identify weaknesses and best practices from around the region.  With audits, municipalities will have an opportunity to see where they are lagging or how they can learn from their neighbours.
3) Avoid a lackadaisical attitude towards good governance.  A surprise audit is a great way to motivate town employees to do their best every day. 
4) An opportunity to fix problems right away.  Asking residents to wait four years to improve the governance of their municipality through an election just doesn't make sense.  Let's give residents a much quicker response mechanism allow us to address a problem early on. 
5) Avoid fraud and other misconducts.  This should be the responsibility of every municipal leader but very few are able to police themselves.  A Regional audit unit can detect and report misdeeds and protect the residents from misappropriation of taxpayer money.  The greatest opportunity of fraud occurs during in camera sessions  when the public and media are barred from attending which is why monitoring the goings-ons of these meetings is so important. 

A specialized, York Regional auditing unit makes a lot of sense.  Obviously, an audit alone is not enough.  The mandate should also require the municipality to respond to the auditing unit's report allowing residents to gauge the performance of the Mayor and Council before an election which can only improve our democracy.  As we have seen in Newmarket, when too many items are being discussed in camera, the public perception is one of distrust and suspicion.  Pull back the curtain and let a well respected auditing team review and report back to the public to re-establish faith in the municipal government.