Elliot Lake Mayor Dan Marchisella told members of Elliot Lake City Council Monday night he was "flabbergasted" to learn the city has spent some $100,300 so far to mitigate the fallout after three members of the council who were elected in 2014 later resigned in the wake of widespread problems caused by the way some councillors carried out their duties during this term.
Former councillor Candace Martin was the first to go in late September 2017. Former councillor Scot Reinhardt stepped down days later last Oct. 1. But It wasn't until March of this year (2018) that former councillor Connie Nykyforak handed in her resignation from Elliot Lake City Council.
In commenting on their departure in his report on their actions and the costs associated with them, Elliot Lake Chief Administrative Officer Dan Gagnon noted: "It is vitally important for all councillors (new and incumbents) to be fully aware that they must remain within their legislative roles otherwise the consequences, both financial and personal, can be quite severe."
In his analysis Mr .Gagnon said the costs to date (fitting the description of councillors becoming involved in the workplace outside of the scope of their legislative roles) include $38,500 for legal advice, $21,300 for third party investigation, $7,200 for council training sessions, $6,600 for code of conduct complaints, $18,600 for Integrity Commissioner fees and another $8,100 for Library Union prep costs to date. (That's a total of $100,300.)
Councillor Chris Patrie called it "an extremely light number." He and others believe the real cost to the taxpayers of Elliot Lake will be higher, when staff time and other resources and the cost of all other issues are taken into account. Nonetheless, Patrie said he's "very happy" that once the new council is elected on Oct. 22, provincial regulations in effect will make individual councillors responsible for events that take place if they exceed their authority while in office. Following the CAO's report to council on Monday night, Patrie noted the costs and changes made in connection with the unionization of city staff at the Elliot Lake Public Library are particularly bothersome to him.
Mayor Marchisella added, "Hopefully we will never see this again." He said "We are not elected to be set on a pedestal. We are elected to serve the community." Earlier this year, Elliot Lake Council had unanimously adopted new strictures in legislation put forward by the mayor this summer. They make it mandatory now for all councillors to take training in their job responsibilities. The mayor has stated that was one of the reasons used by a departing councillor for what happened. He said, they claimed to be unaware of their responsibility since they never took the available training.
Councillor Ed Pearce called the $100,300, "the tip of the iceberg." He said, "It's an awful lot of money." The mayor observed the money spent so far is "twice what the taxpayers pay every year for council's annual honorarium."
Despite his regrets, Councillor Luc Cyr said the CAO's report shows that, "transparency always wins." Councillor Tammy VanRoon said taxpayers need to know that "This is the process we had to take. We had no alternative." She said she regrets the loss of public trust that council members have experienced in the wake of the three resignations, recognizing "It's something we work very hard to establish." She said the training session offered for new councillors this term was very poorly attended.
Councillor Sandy Finamore told her fellow council members she remains unaware of all the circumstances that led to the financial and personal fallout, but is "glad to see a detailed report, glad to see it out in the public."
Mayor Marchisella thanked members of City of Elliot Lake staff for sticking with their jobs and seeing the city through a very difficult period. He said, "Thank-you for hanging in while we made it right." To date, none of the three former Elliot Lake councillors who resigned has made any public comment on the allegations against them (since they stepped down.)