City of Charlottetown to conduct financial review more than 3 years after concerns raised
CBC
Three-and-a-half years after the City of Charlottetown's former deputy CAO said he was fired in retaliation for raising financial and administrative concerns, city hall is embarking on a review.
The city's interim CAO Donna Waddell said a financial review was one of the first tasks she was given by council when she took over her position on May 11.
The review is to be conducted by Waddell and city finance staff, working with the city's accounting firm, MRSB. An independent auditor, yet to be named, is to be brought in later on to oversee the process.
In a memo to councillors, Waddell wrote "where necessary, appropriate changes will be recommended" regarding city policies, bylaws and adherence to provincial legislation, including the Municipal Government Act.
"It is certainly the intent to allay any concerns about the way the city does its business," Waddell wrote.
Council has been presented with two sets of concerns brought forward by the two people who served as deputy CAO under the city's former chief administrative officer, Peter Kelly. Kelly's employment was terminated without cause by council after a closed-door debate May 11.
Former deputy CAO Scott Messervey presented council members with a detailed list outlining 18 concerns after he was fired by Kelly in January 2019, but many of those concerns were only made public this year after they were reported by CBC.
Among Messervey's concerns:
Messervey's successor as deputy, Tina Lococo — hired nearly three years after Messervey was fired, and herself fired by Kelly six months later — also provided council members with a number of concerns regarding the city's administration, according to an email obtained by CBC. Those concerns have not been made public.
Besides the financial review, the city is also planning an organizational review to look at its governance, staffing model and decision-making process, with particular attention to the job description for the chief administrative officer.
But some council members say the financial review lacks the independence required to properly address the concerns raised.
"We must have a person or business that is totally independent from any ties to the city," councillor Bob Doiron told CBC.
Doiron said the process shouldn't involve senior city management or the city's accounting firm.
"The process has to be able to give total freedom to the person that is chosen to do this investigation. Then and only then will these concerns be put to rest," said Doiron.
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