Mayor’s wife: ‘Bill and I are paying for our solicitor, not the township’

Rick Webster

Letter to Springwater News from Lorraine French, Grenfel

I am responding to former Councillor Webster who coins himself “Old Crony” who, aside from his caustic writing style in his December 29th article, has included a number of distortions of fact.

I have wanted to write a letter a number of times about that small few in the Township, who like the Democrats cannot accept that those who lost the municipal election in 2014 did so by their own shortcomings. Don’t get confused, I am not suggesting I am a fan of either Clinton or Trump as that is a whole other mess. I gleaned through past information provided to this newspaper of which I have continually been keenly aware, since I too have been forced to live through this nightmare.

At its meeting on July 20, 2015, the Compliance Audit Committee in a 2 to 1 decision accepted the application of Dan McLean, former Deputy Mayor in the 2014 municipal election, to review Bill’s 2014 election campaign finances and subsequently appointed an independent audit firm Grant Thornton LLP to conduct the audit. Following the decision, Bill acknowledged his intention to cooperate with the audit, and both of us fully cooperated with the auditor and provided access to everything they requested.

The auditor reported to the Committee on September 25, 2015. Remember, Grant Thornton LLP was selected by the Compliance Audit Committee, not the Township and is a well-qualified auditing firm and have conducted other Election Compliance Audits. Their audit was complete and aside from some compliance issues that were noted in the Grant Thornton Audit Report, it confirmed for the most part the audit that had been conducted by Smith Lassaline from Barrie as part of Bill’s filing of election expenses as required under the Act. Even with the variances, Bill’s election expenditures are still about $5,000 under the spending limit.

The Municipal Elections Act requires the Compliance Audit Committee to consider the auditor’s report within 30 days of receiving it and to make a decision to either commence legal proceedings against the candidate, if the report concluded that there were apparent contraventions of the Act, or to make a finding as to whether there were reasonable grounds for the application if no contraventions were found.

The Committee had no authority under any Act to reject the auditor’s report and request a new audit and then proceeded to engage another audit firm. With that having occurred, Bill’s solicitor informed him that in her opinion the Committee’s decision to adjourn the proceedings on October 23rd, 2015 without making one of the two decisions available to them, was beyond the authority granted to it under section 81 of the Municipal Elections Act. Its decision to reject an audit and to appoint a second auditor without any authority to do so is tantamount to audit shopping and it is contrary to the basic rules of natural justice and procedural fairness.

On researching the matter, there has never been a case where a Compliance Audit Committee has not made a decision based on the two options provided in the Act. So we are in new territory. Since it was beyond the Committee’s authority, Bill decided not to agree to another audit. When Bill’s solicitor informed the Township Clerk and copied the new audit firm chosen by the Compliance Audit Committee of his decision not to participate in a second audit, he received an email from the new audit firm threatening a summons to appear before them if he did not agree to participate. With no other options before him, he launched an application to the Divisional Court to deal with the matter and challenge what had been done by the Committee beyond its authority.

And now for the distortion of facts I mentioned at the beginning of this article. Contrary to Webster’s comment, Bill and I are paying for our solicitor to deal with the Compliance Audit court challenge, not the Township. The bigger question to the Old Crony, since he brought it up and appears to be concerned about the legal costs of the Township, would be “Why did the Compliance Audit Committee ask for separate new legal representation, costing the Township more money?” He might know that as he is a close associate of one of the Compliance Audit Committee’s members. Who knows? Everyone is aware that anytime there is a Council closed session to discuss the Compliance Audit matter, Bill excuses himself because of his conflict of interest.

What does surprise me is how well Bill takes this nauseating issue and that it does not distract him from the work he committed to do for the Township and its people. I will be honest and say it does bother me and I await the day of reckoning. The good news for everyone in Springwater is that not only do you have a Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council working and doing good things like supporting the Elmvale District High School, lending money to the Elmvale Curling Club so they can continue their century of service to the community but more importantly the little things that make everyone’s life a little better.

Examples would be the lobbying with two Ministries to get a safer solution to the school crossing in Hillsdale, Council’s resolution to protect vacant parkland in Midhurst, Council’s initiative with the CAP program which has already helped a number of people in difficult situations, Council’s support for our local recreation needs and other issues that impact us all directly. I have observed three Councils and this is the first one that I have seen that sticks to the business of the Township and isn’t focused on little clever backroom tactics.

This Council has a vision, which is clearly outlined in their 4 year Strategic Plan. They are sticking to it and we are seeing the leadership we expect from those that govern us. My husband Bill is no fool and knows how the world works. He predicted correctly that he expected there would be attempts to delay the resolution of the Compliance Audit as long as possible, which is currently happening through new court maneuvering as recently as last week. He also expected articles from the likes of Webster and company to conduct a character assassination and smear campaign which we see has started. I appreciate at least Webster now has the guts to sign his name to his writings rather than have them signed by that old Anonymous character or Concerned Resident.

But like Bill, I have faith in the same people that saw through the charade in the last election and elected people with a whole new mandate. The people will once again decide in 2018 what is best for them, and not leave the decision to a few old cronies who like living in the past or taking care of their old friends. It is sad to see old cronies stay so focused on personal vendettas rather than contributing positively to the wellbeing of the great Township of Springwater. C’est la vie!

Lorraine French is the wife of Springwater Mayor Bill French

Previous coverage

French campaign statement sent for audit