The entire 140-odd pages of a governance audit of District of Sechelt that identified “the dysfunction within Council” will be released to the public.
In late June, a 30-page executive summary was released to the public and included a lengthy list of recommendations for the mayor, councillors and District of Sechelt senior staff.
Among the recommendations was a request for the mayor to apologize for his role in the dysfunction, something that has not happened.
During the Sechelt Sept. 4 regular meeting, Mayor John Henderson introduced a motion with three recommendations to release information related to George B. Cuff & Associates Ltd.'s audit to the public:
- That all reports produced as part of the audit engagement be released publicly immediately;
- Release reference material such as cost, documents and other details of the contractor selection process;
- Direct staff to update council on their plans, recommendations and next steps to address the provisions of the audit at council's Sept. 25 regular meeting.
Speaking to the importance of transparency, good government and accountability, Henderson said, “I think we would benefit all of us by just putting things out there.”
Henderson also claimed that there was part of the report he and the rest of council has not seen (a claim he also shared with Coast Reporter last month).
Responding to council's questions about what aspects of the report he is referring to, Henderson said he and council were informed in a closed meeting about at least one report that has not been provided to them, but was unable to discuss specifics because those details were from a confidential meeting.
Councillors maintained that they did not know of any report they and the mayor had not yet seen.
Speaking against releasing the entire Cuff audit report, Coun. Dianne McLauchlan said the issue should be discussed further in a closed meeting, allowing council to go through the report together and discuss the implications.
“I think there's legal implications and there's labour implications, and so I think just having this come forward because the mayor feels he has to somehow not apologize, is just part of an ongoing type of situation, which is why we have the Cuff report written in the first place,” McLauchlan said. “It is untenable.”
Of Henderson's three recommendations, two carried.
Council voted to release the entire 145-page Cuff report with McLauchlan opposed and passed a resolution to direct staff to provide an update on their plans recommendations and next steps to address the provisions of the audit with Coun. Alton Toth opposed.
The motion to release the reference material and further details including cost did not receive a second and was not considered.
Coast Reporter has been informed that the release of the full audit report is likely imminent.
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
