The Q1 financial report was added to the Committee of the Whole (COW) agenda for Monday May 29, 2017. Bryan Lambert discovered the report was incorrect and emailed the Deputy Mayor.
From: Bryan Lambert
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2017 9:43 AM
To: John Henderson <jhenderson@cobourg.ca>
Subject: Heads up
Hi John,
A heads up for you.
There are several comments on Drapers post this morning on last night’s meeting, including the following:
Full agenda at Council meeting on May 29, 2017
It’s a good thing that Council deferred discussion of the quarterly financial report until next week. Had the discussion gone forward as scheduled, they would have been in for a huge shock. The introduction indicates that “…the 2017 Town of Cobourg Operating and Capital budget targets and actuals to date as well as a status update on budgeted capital projects for 2017.” The report does not present this information. Instead, the 2016 and 2017 budgets are presented. No “actuals to date” data is provided.
For example:
| 2016 Budget | 2017 Budget |
Fire: | 2,830,705 | 2,854,464 |
Public Works | 2,566,965 | 2,566,170 |
Transit | 559,764 | 584,217 |
Marina | 618,600 | 684,080 |
CCC | 944,983 | 1,028,253 |
This report is approved by both the treasurer and CAO
Councillor McCarthy noted that the CTA had submitted a letter listing things where Council had failed.
How ironic!
I checked the numbers and they are indeed from the 2016 and 2017 budgets and are not Q1 actuals.
How could both the treasurer and CAO approve this without noticing the error?
Bryan
NOTE: The Q1 Financial Report was on the agenda here:
Committee of the Whole AGENDA Monday May 29, 2017
The Q1 financial report can be found here:
Town of Cobourg Quarterly Financial Report 1Q2017
Replies and Updates
From: John Henderson
To: Bryan Lambert
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2017 5:36 PM
Subject: RE: Heads up
Bryan,
At the Committee of the Whole, the Financial Quarterly Report was deferred as I had not had an opportunity to read and review it with Stephen Peacock or Ian Davey prior to it be added to the agenda as an additional item for Council’s consideration. I will be having further discussions with staff this week.
Regards,
John
From: Bryan Lambert
Date: 5 June 2017 at 10:24
Subject: Q1 financial report
To: John Henderson <jhenderson@cobourg.ca>
Hi John,
I note that the Q1 financial report is not on tonight’s meeting agenda.
What happened?
When will it be available?
Bryan
From: John Henderson
To: Bryan Lambert
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2017 1:57 PM
Subject: RE: Q1 financial report
Bryan,
Yes, the Q1 was removed from the agenda as it requires more discussion between General Government (D.M. Henderson) and Staff (Legislative Services). I will certainly speak to this at Council tonight as part of my Coordinator’s Report. I realize that getting the Quarterly Financial Report back unto Council’s agenda is very important and my goal is to get this back to Council a.s.a.p.
Regards,
John
From: Bryan Lambert
Date: 5 June 2017 at 14:27
Subject: Re: Q1 financial report
To: John Henderson <jhenderson@cobourg.ca>
John,
Thanks for your reply. This has certainly turned out to be a hornet’s nest.
Aside from the functional aspect of getting the report done, this was a significant failure of the CAO’s responsibility to monitor and approve staff work, service the needs of Council and deliver on a timely basis.
This is also not the first time, rather it is another example in a disturbing trend.
How will Council hold the CAO accountable?
What are the CAO’s accountability metrics and will (should) they change?
It’s time to get back to basics and get things fixed.
To transparency and accountability
Bryan
Bryan Lambert
Director CTA