Former CAO said Collingwood a ‘new town’ thanks to the inquiry

Former Collingwood CAO John Brown

‘Something very significant had to happen to change very long, engrained faults in the system,’ said former CAO John Brown

By: Erika Engel Collingwood Today

The former town staff member who started asking questions that would eventually lead to the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry maintains the expensive public investigation was worth it.

“You got huge value … you got a new town,” said former chief administrative officer, John Brown, while taking questions from council during a special meeting last night (March 9).

He was hired in July 2013 as an interim CAO following Ed Houghton’s resignation from the position.

Brown said while he was CAO he experienced a “shutdown” and “unwillingness to provide information” when he asked questions about town governance, in particular the Collus share sale and subsequent strategic partnership agreement.

Prompted by a string of comments from Deputy Mayor Keith Hull and Councillor Deb Doherty about the culture at town hall at the time, the former CAO said he had never seen a municipal government run the way Collingwood was running when he was hired.

“There were tentacles coming in from the outside into council and all kinds of information and positions taken by people I didn’t recognize as being around the council table,” said Brown. “Something very significant had to happen to change very long, engrained faults in the system.”

He did try to get answers on his own. Brown told council he went to companies, boards, people, committees, and individuals who were involved in various transactions and agreements, and who knew direct information, but none provided answers to his questions.

“Virtually every avenue I tried to get information from was closed,” he said.

He sought advice from a lawyer with judicial inquiry experience, William McDowell, who would later become the town’s legal counsel for the inquiry.

“There were some very serious issues in my opinion. I was not at all confident advancing those issues to council based on my personal experience,” said Brown.

McDowell conducted his own review of the 2012 Collus share sale, and presented a report to council in 2018 saying he was left with more questions than answers, and recommended council ask for a judicial inquiry.

“The inquiry, in my opinion, was necessary because … the culture and the system was one that just did not serve the interest of this town properly … we couldn’t stay where we were,” said Brown.

Council has faced criticism over the more than $8-million cost of the inquiry to date. But Brown said if he was part of the council who voted for it, he would still stand by it.

“This council shouldn’t be embarrassed at all about the cost of the inquiry … you didn’t just get a lot of information you didn’t have. We found out where the system was fundamentally incorrect and you found a way to change that,” said Brown. “You’ve got a path forward.”

The path forward was exactly what the last CAO, Fareed Amin, used to anchor his comments for council last night.

“I want to focus on moving on,” said Amin, delivering several of his own recommendations to augment those provided by the commissioner in the final report from the inquiry.

Amin suggested the town, and all municipalities, should put in place some whistleblower protection to better equip public servants who see something to be able to say something without fear of reprisal.

He also recommended a fairness commissioner, which is echoed in the inquiry recommendations, and agreed it should be a third party. A fairness commissioner is someone who is called in to supervise a sale of a significant town asset to ensure it is done in a fair and transparent manner.

Amin suggested the town implement a “cooling-off period” so any senior staff who leave the town would have to wait two years before bidding for contracts put out by the municipality.

He encouraged the town to use the technology now available to find ways for the public to see where its money is being spent, who’s meeting with whom, and what kind of expenses are being incurred.

He also recommended the town put in place more formal programs for training of not only council but senior staff.

And finally, he urged the town to work with fellow municipalities to hire more accessible in-house legal counsel. He said larger municipalities have the benefit of legal counsel in-house, but recognized the cost is prohibitive for a municipality of Collingwood’s size. He suggested partnering with another or other towns in Simcoe County could make in-house counsel a feasible option.

Amin urged council and the town to continue to push for the recommendations from the commissioner to be implemented beyond Collingwood in other municipalities and in provincial legislation.

“Educate and propagate what was done in Collingwood,” said Amin.

Amin was CAO when council called for the judicial inquiry and during the hearings. He did provide council with an estimate of the cost before the start of the inquiry, which was about $1 million to $1.5 million.

Residents in deputations and letters to council have asked whether Amin mislead council at that time, since the cost has escalated to over $8 million.

“The estimate included in the initial report was based on information we had at that time, it was our best attempt,” said Amin. “At no point was there any attempt by any one of us to provide information that wasn’t accurate.”

He explained once a judicial inquiry is called there isn’t anything a municipality can do to limit the cost or expenses incurred.

“It’s difficult to put a fence around it, and we tried,” said Amin. “We tried as best we could to control the amount of money this thing would cost. But at the end of the day, we had no frame of reference.”

He said a breakdown of the costs of the inquiry shows a “significant amount” of money was spent on document gathering and getting information. These costs were also noted by the town’s legal team from the inquiry, who reported to council last month.

At the end of the council meeting, Councillor Kathy Jeffery introduced a motion asking staff to organize public engagement and then provide a “comprehensive” set of recommendations from the inquiry report for council by the end of April. The motion will be part of the next council meeting agenda for discussion and voting.