Councillor's and citizens are Working Together for Vaughan

Since launching the “Working Together for Vaughan” campaign yesterday I have received positive comments, emails and phone calls from a great many constituents. The people of Vaughan want City Council to work together cooperatively on their behalf.

I just want to take this opportunity to again thank two of my Council colleagues for attending yesterday’s launch and offering their support. Here is what Regional Councillor Gino Rosati had to say;

“ I am very very happy with what the Mayor had to say today. She has taken the initiative and she comments, positive comments and I fully agree with her and I am excited about it and I am ready to move forward with the Mayor and the rest of Council.”

Here is what City Councillor Peter Meffe had to say;

“I look forward to seeing us come back together and move forward for the interests of the citizens of Vaughan. People are having a tough time with respect to their mortgages paying tuition and all sort of daily things that all of us have to do. And it’s too important for us not to cross that bridge and cross that river. I think this is an opportunity to do that.”

The Working Together for Vaughan campaign includes a recommendation to make sweeping changes to the City’s Expenditure Policy, including a complete ban on expensing alcohol.

I explained that this morning during a tough, but fair interview with CFRB’s Bill Carroll. But afterwards Bill suggested that I had perhaps gone too far by recommending a complete ban on alcohol. I would have to disagree with Bill.

Although alcohol is allowed under the current City Expenditure Policy and many Members of Council and Senior Staff have expensed alcohol in the past, it is time to move forward. We can never again let the issue of expenses become an impediment to the important work we have to do at City Hall. By removing alcohol as an expense, we can avoid an ongoing debate over what is and is not appropriate.

With that being said, I am recommending that an independent third party expert review the City Expenditure policy and our changes to ensure we are on the right track.

My goal is to make the City of Vaughan the standard bearer in Canada for accountability and transparency when it comes to expenses.