At last night’s city hall meeting, the public and council heard a citizen’s concern about Elliot Lake’s future credibility with grant sources and “the upwards of $600,000 spent to date on legal services.”
Speaking during the Public Input Session, local resident, Mike Thomas, said, “The inability to accept that the rules had changed as well as the resistance to accept adjudication of the facts, has left the local electorate disenfranchised.”
“The rules had changed”
In recent years, the province of Ontario made changes to the Municipal Act and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. The changes included broader accountability and transparency and the requirement for each municipality to contract their own Integrity Commissioner.
And in those years, Elliot Lake taxpayers have been burdened with heavy legal costs.
The most recent report totals the “Integrity Commissioner & Council Relations” for the years 2018 to 2023 at $1,161,821. Some of that expense is for training and consultation, but most of it is not.
“Resistance to accept adjudication of the facts”
A Superior Court justice adjudicated the facts in a decision delivered Jan. 9, 2023. The justice found Chris Patrie, then mayor of Elliot Lake, in violation of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Patrie appealed the decision.
The City and IC agreed to Patrie’s plan to keep the mayor’s seat open until the appeal was heard. It was heard by a three-justice panel of the Divisional Court in April. The decision was rendered Dec. 15. The decision rejected Patrie’s appeal arguments.
About the costs of the appeal, the decision reported, “Mr. Patrie and the Integrity Commissioner agreed that the loser in the appeal would pay the winner $12,000 in costs, all-inclusive.”
A report from the city’s treasurer, delivered to council Dec. 20, 2023, reports legal costs related to Patrie in 2023 alone, at $238,560. The report states the Patrie total, including previous years back to 2018, is $599,094. That report is here.
It's the $599,094 that Thomas is talking about and he is concerned about the overall effects of the handling of this matter, on our local economy.
At the podium, Thomas told the citizens and council that he believed, “the 65 per cent who did not participate in the election, will vote with their wallets. The future viability of our local economy will reflect the results of this decision this evening.”
He’s also concerned about the City of Elliot Lake’s credibility when we apply for grants.
“We are also being viewed in a wider lens by the upper two tiers of government to see how we perform in cleaning up our house. Failure to govern in a fair and a democratic fashion will not only set us down the wrong path. Locally, it will further distance us from gaining the respect of our superiors.”
“That, ultimately, translates into rejected funding applications for future projects,” he said.
“The electorate disenfranchised”
Thomas wants transparency and accountability in the financial matters affecting local taxpayers.
“The public needs clarity on the difference between the court-ordered cost to integrity commissioner E4m, and what the Corporation of Elliot Lake is going to do in executing recovery for the upwards of $600,000 spent to date on legal services over the course of this case.”
“I know it's not comfortable, I know it's not pleasant. But [the City] is a corporation, and it is an expense.”
“And to avoid the misinformation that keeps going back and forth, I think a clear statement from this council would be beneficial to everybody.”
Later in the evening, as council decided on an option to fill the mayor's vacancy, councillors expressed concern and they considered a $60,000 cost for a by-election too much of a burden on the taxpayer.
However, council members offered no response as Thomas wondered about the $600,000 burden.
