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Transcript of Meeting
Councillor Joe Mihevc
Mr. Chair, point of personal priviledge.
Councillor Ford
Oh, come on.
Councillor Mihevc
No, this is an important point councillor Ford. There's two
points of personal priviledge that I'd like to raise here and
distance myself from and say how abhorrent I find the accusations.
One is around the bricks. The uh bricks were
being stolen from the site and we had a basically with
the consent of the real estate department put up a sign
saying cause they were being stolen anyway, cause the site was
wide open for theft that the money you should pay a buck
a brick and bring the money to my office which was all duly put
into a bank put into city coffers. That was not only documented by city staff but it also went through the auditor's office, and to at this point start to accuse councillors of inapp- or myself in particular of inapppropriate activity – uh – I want to distance myself from that and from that and uh, um, express my outrage over that.
Deputant
If-
Mihevc
Secondly secondly Mr. Chair. The issue of uh, community
support or non-support. Um, the uh there has been
uh a survey that did go out to the public it was
not administered by my office, it was administered by the culture
division. Uh, I think it is very unfair and inappropriate for
members of the public, or this particular deputant to accuse
staff of basically fixing the books around the survey that went
out. And so I want to defend staff on that point as well. Thank-you.
Deputant
May I respond to those two points?
Chair, Doug Holyday
Thank-you councillor.
Joe Mihevc
It's a point of personal priviledge Mr. Chair.
Deputant
There is there is documented proof of both of those-
Joe Mihevc
Mr Chair, I think her deputation is over.
Councillor Sutherland
No. Mr.Chairman he brought up a point of personal priviledge,
and I have questions of it too.
Doug Holyday
Well, you could ask questions of the deputant I thnk if you like.
Councillor Sutherland
OK. To the deputant could you please explain or
respond to what you just heard from the councillor please?
Deputant
Certainly. Uh- regarding the bricks from the site I have
here a letter or a memo from Jeff Griffiths, the Auditor General,
to Joan Anderton saying that Councillor Mihevc did not have permission
to take the bricks. And that he did put the money into a private
bank account and he was told that he had to take it out and give
it back to the city.
Joe Mihevc
That is not Mr.Chair point of personal priviledge
that is not in the letter. And I think if she reads the letter
in it's entirety I think it's pretty self-explanatory-
Deputant
I would be happy to read the letter in it's entirely to council,
if you would like to hear it. OK.
Is? Would you like me to read it?
Dear Ms Anderton.
In a letter dated September 6, 2002, to two members of the
public, I responded to issues that they raised with regard to
a City Councillor's involvement with the above noted property.
Specifically, the Councillor initiated the removal of salvage
materials from the site by directly contacting the TTC and another
contractor to effect such removal without seeking authorization
from, and going through, applicable city staff. The Councillor
also used City property to conduct fundraising activities through
the sale of bricks from the site without authorization.
This Councillor was verbally advised by the Facilities and Real Estate Services' staff to refrain from such activities, as he had no right to take any action involving city property.
To minimize the recurrence of a similar situation, it is important
that you remind all Councilors that the handling (sale or disposal)
of City property, regardless of value, must be conducted by applicable
City staff to ensure appropriate due process and policies are
followed.
Please do not hesitate to call me to further discuss this
matter.
Yours very truly,
Jeff Griffiths, Auditor General
CC. Shirley Hoy and Andy Stein.
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