Working Together for Vaughan – Progress Report

Since launching the Working Together for Vaughan campaign on Sunday, public support has been growing. More people have offered positive feedback to me personally, over the phone, through email and on Facebook.

The residents of Vaughan support my commitment to work with all Members of Council to try and set aside our personal differences, return professionalism to City Hall and improve accountability and transparency.

I have taken the next step towards improving the City Expenditure Policy. Yesterday I presented a series of sweeping changes to the Working Session of Committee of the Whole. Among my recommendations are:

• Requiring that three signatures be obtained to verify the accuracy of expense claims;
• Mandate specific standards for the use of cell phones and blackberries;
• Mandate specific standards for the Mayor’s and Senior Management Fleet Vehicles;
• Restrict expense claims to business meals only, no alcohol;
• Mandate specific standards for personal expenses, the use of corporate credit cards, and companion expenses; and,
• Mandate specific rules for campaign related city expenses.

To ensure we hit the mark I am recommending that the City seek independent third party expertise to review the existing policy and the proposed changes. As a matter of fact, I have had an initial conversation with the former Auditor General of Ontario, Erik Peters to see if he would be interested in the job. I will keep you posted on my progress.

In the meantime, my recommendations to strengthen the City Expenditure Policy will now go to the Audit and Operational Review Committee. As soon as I know the date and time of the meeting, I will post it right here.