May 5, 2021 Richmond Hill Special Council Meeting Recap
Council has appointed Charles Harnick of ADR Chambers Inc. as the new City of Richmond Hill Integrity Commissioner (IC) effective May 12, 2021.
The vote was unanimous however Councillor Perrelli chose not to vote stating "I believe that the choice of an Integrity Commissioner should be done by an independent party and not by the members they are adjudicating over".
Perrelli did vote back in December 2019 when council appointed Norman J. Groot from Investigation Counsel P.C. to be the Integrity Commissioner and was terminated March 2021.
The IC prior to Norman Groot was Deborah Anschell who was also with ADR Chambers Inc. and abruptly terminated in October 2019.
After a few hours of discussion, disagreement and amendments Council finally landed on a Member of Council Events Policy. The policy with amendments was approved unanimously and part (b) of the amendment also carried.
Click here for the policy that was approved with the amendments below.
What does that mean?
1. Council-led Events are to be transparent and accountable.
2. Council-led Events are not to be directly funded from any City budget.
3. Council-led Events will be consistent with the principles and rules of the Council Code of
Conduct.
4. Council-led Events planning and delivery will be governed by the Service Level Agreement between the Events and Marketing Services Section of the Community Services Department and the Mayor and Members of Council.
The Treasurer will prepare a quarterly report on all Council-led Events.
This report will:
Be published on the City Website;
Include identification of each event, the sponsorship received (including the name of each sponsor and sponsor amount), and the types of expenditures incurred (the sponsor must give their consent to have their names published);
Identify the remaining balance in the account.
Note: Councillors can still host their own events that don't use city resources and when they do they do not have to adhere to this events policy.