Stouffville council slammed for questionable expenses
Expensed flowers, tables at fundraiser under question

Yorkregion.com
Simon Martin
Dec. 8, 2017

$2,700 spent on flowers, $4,800 spent on social media and administration service and $2,330 billed to a numbered company are just a few of the eyebrow raising expenses Whitchurch-Stouffville council members have made in the past 21 months.

In the wake of Mayor Justin Altmann expensing a replica chain of office that is being called the mayor’s community chain earlier this year for $1,949, the Stouffville Sun-Tribune took an in-depth look at council expenses over the past 21 months.

According to town treasurer Brian Parrott, there is no policy that determines what comprises an eligible expense for council and there is no specific approval policy with respect to expenses.

“Each councillor applies their discretion with respect to expenses,” he said.

Every member of council has a different expense budget based on the population of the ward they represent. Ward 1 Coun. Ken Ferdinands has a budget of $8,750, Ward 2 Coun. Maurice Smith $12,150, Ward 3 Coun. Hugo Kroon, $8,410, Ward 4 Coun. Rick Upton $15,090, Ward 5 Coun. Iain Lovatt $11,720, Ward 6 Coun. Rob Hargrave $20,550 and Altmann $30,000.

Altmann expensed $2,758 on flowers over the past 21 months. Other notable expenses from the mayor included $305 for an espresso machine, a $4.67 Tim Hortons lunch for a consultant and $73 at the LCBO for a 55+ St. Patrick’s Day luncheon. Altmann didn’t respond to a request to explain his various expenses.

The single largest expense from a council member was from Upton who expensed $4,884 to Darlene Shaw Dec. 31, 2016 for social, media and admin. services. Upton said the expense was so large because he made it one instalment instead of sprinkling it out throughout the year.

Upton said for the money, Shaw helped him with social media, advertising and attending events.

The only expense made to a numbered company was made by Smith who expensed $2,330 to 1502715 Ontario INC over a 21-month period for newsletters and web hosting. Smith said the company manages his website and arranges most of his community communications. He also said the company behind the numbered one he wrote down on his expenses is 5pstrategies and is owned by Michael Gorman.

Former Mayor Sue Sherban made a presentation to council Dec. 5 raising concerns with only Altmann and Hargrave’s expenses. She questioned both Hargrave and the Altmann for expensing tables at various community fundraisers like Thaipongal, the Chamber of Commerce Mayor’s Dinner, and the Latcham Gallery. It’s one thing to expense your own ticket but to expense the whole table is going too far, Sherban said. Sherban wanted to know who were the people that attended these dinners. She also questioned the need for expensing ads in the various local papers when it could be done much cheaper via mail.

Hargrave and Altmann didn’t take too kindly to being singled out by Sherban and things became a little heated. Hargrave said he supports the local community and is trying to bring people together at these functions. “I build foundations for bridges. You build foundations for walls,” he said.

After Sherban needled Altmann for expensing two tables at the Chamber of Commerce Mayor’s Dinner for $1,017 Altmann warned Sherban to keep things respectful or leave.  The barbs between the two continued when Altmann asked Sherban about the town’s expense policy when she was mayor and she responded that a policy wasn’t needed then because there used to be integrity on council. After Altmann gave Sherban a final warning Sherban stopped her probe and said “You know what? I can leave now,” and she marched out of the chambers.

With no policy currently, it doesn’t appear members of council did anything that was not allowed. But council passed a resolution for staff to looking into a possibility of developing a council expense policy that municipalities like Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Aurora have in place to govern what council members are allowed to expense. Staff are scheduled to report back on the matter in the first quarter of 2018.