Richmond Hill seeks new integrity commissioner after axing current one

The service cost the city $53K so far this year, thousands over budget

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 11, 2019
Sheila Wang

The City of Richmond Hill is looking to appoint a new accountability officer to advise council on ethical issues and investigate breaches of the code of conduct.

The new integrity commissioner will replace Deborah Anschell, who provided the services to the city for the past year and a half. Council made the decision in a closed session at a special meeting Oct. 22 with no details publicly available.

“A majority of council decided to not keep this integrity commissioner and move on to another one. I’m fine with it,” Mayor Dave Barrow told The Liberal on Nov. 6.

Representing the Toronto-based dispute-resolution ADR Chambers Inc., Anschell assumed the role in June 2018 to investigate the conduct-related complaints for councillors, and provide education and recommendations in accordance.

This April, the city decided to extend the initial one-year contract with ADR Chambers to another year, which would be completed in June 2020.

Halfway through the current contract, the city put an ad on its website Nov. 1, inviting applications for a new integrity commissioner with a deadline of Nov. 28, 2019.

The mayor declined to comment further on the matter, noting he had “10 things to do every day” and referred The Liberal to the communication services.

Over the past couple of months, council has overthrown a number of the commissioner’s rulings in the investigations of some councillors' code of conduct breaches.

On Sept. 18, council voted not to reprimand Coun. Carmine Perrelli over “unwarranted public humiliation” to fellow Coun. Karen Cilevitz, despite the recommended reprimand by the commissioner.

At the same meeting, council decided to suspend Cilevitz’s pay for 45 days for not telling the rest of council about the residents meeting she organized, while the commissioner suggested a reprimand.

A month later, council voted to again overrule the commissioner's recommendation and sanction Cilevitz by docking another 180 days pay.

Needless to say, the integrity commissioner has been kept busy during her tenure in Richmond Hill.

The commissioner received a total of 14 code of conduct complaints since the beginning of this term of council, according to Kathleen Graver, manager of the city’s communication services.

Nine of the complaints have been closed.

In comparison, in 2016 and 2017 combined, the former integrity commissioner received a total of six complaints.

The service -- required by the province -- comes at a price at the expense of the taxpayers.

The city paid $52,867 (taxes included) to ADR Chambers for the services since December 2018, which is about $20,000 beyond the annual budget set aside for the integrity commissioner services.

Some of the cost incurred and was covered through 2018 funding.

It is unclear how much in total Richmond Hill has paid over budget for the service this year, as Graver noted not all invoices have been processed due to transition to a new finance system.

The spokesperson also cited the financial control bylaw which allows the city to cover the overages "by savings found elsewhere in the operating budget."

The Liberal previously reported that the annual budget for the integrity commissioner services was $33,000. The city pays an annual retainer fee of $12,000 plus $300 an hour for the service.

The five remaining complaints on hold until the next commissioner is appointed, the spokesperson noted.