Just this afternoon - Brian Carruthers, as City of Williams Lake Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), issued a report to Council on tonight's WL Council Agenda, as his formal response to allegations made last week from former City of Williams Lake Director of Finance Candie Laporte. He will be appearing before Council to orally present this report. You can find the report here
Given the seriousness of this situation - I'm going to publish verbatim the entire report from the City's CAO minus the attachments:
Also - there were 5 Attachments to this report and they were:
Attachment 'A' - Summary of Fire Hall Construction Costs (note - previously considered by WL Council in January)
Attachment 'B' - Article 28.01 of Collective Agreement between City of Williams Lake and the IUOE
Attachment 'C' - Item from Manager of Human Resources - 2010 Payroll Changes
Attachment 'D' - Section 165 of the Community Charter - Financial Planning
Attachment 'E' - Bylaw #2107 - 2010-2014 Financial Plan for the City of Williams Lake
From Brian Carruthers' report:
RECOMMENDATION(S):
That Council receive this report for information.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
On March 3, 2011, a number of ‘plain brown envelopes’ were distributed to local media outlets
and individuals in Williams Lake containing a letter written by the City’s former Director of
Financial Services Candie Laporte, making a number of accusations and allegations against me.
The package, which the City has received a copy of, also contained a number of confidential
documents associated with Ms. Laporte’s termination from the City. Many of the recipients chose
to report on the contents of the letter by either publishing/broadcasting ‘news’ stories or
publishing the letter on websites and blogs.
I was asked last week by some media to comment on the contents of the letter, however, I
deliberately refrained from commenting until such time as I could provide a public report to
Council in response to the accusations and allegations contained in the letter.
Tonight, I am publicly presenting to Council my response to Ms. Laporte’s allegations from both
a professional and personal perspective.
I will not be responding to issues associated with Ms. Laporte’s employment with, and
subsequent termination from, the City of Williams Lake due to the confidentiality of personnel
matters. I will, however, clarify that as CAO, I did not have the legal authority to terminate Ms.
Laporte. Ms. Laporte, as an Officer of the Corporation, was terminated by City Council in
accordance with her employment contract and in accordance with Section 152 of the Community
Charter which included a quasi judicial hearing before Council and a mandatory 2/3 majority
vote of Council.
With respect to the Fire Hall finances, Ms. Laporte alleges that I had misinformed Council with a
report that the Fire Hall was $500,000 over budget, when in fact Ms. Laporte contends that the
Fire Hall was $800,000 over budget.
The Fire Hall budget, which was approved by the previous Council, was $6.5M and I do not
believe there is any dispute of this fact. Reconciliation of the Fire Hall expenses by the City’s
Director of Financial Services in January 2011 and again this past week confirms that the total
expenses for the Fire Hall over 2008, 2009 and 2010 were $7,023,165 (Attachment A). These
expenses include property purchase, design and engineering services and all aspects of
construction and will be verified later this month during the City’s annual external audit.
A simple subtraction exercise reveals that the Fire Hall costs were $523,165 over the $6.5M
budget that was approved by the previous Council. No matter how many times I re-do this
calculation, I cannot achieve Ms. Laporte’s contention that the project was $800,000 over budget.
It is worthy to note that Council increased the Fire Hall budget by $300,000 to $6.8M in 2010 to
address anticipated over-runs, resulting in a final budget over-run of $223,165.
I believe through all of this controversy, people have lost sight of why the Fire Hall went over
budget. The over-runs were due primarily to two separate issues regarding soil contamination
and soil composition that was not suitable for compaction, this in spite of a professional
geotechnical assessment of the site prior to construction. The issue was further complicated by
the Project Management firm not having accurately accounted for the cost impact of these
unforeseen issues until the final months of the project.
In summary, the Williams Lake Fire Hall cost the City $7,023,165 to construct - $523,165 over
budget.
I now wish to address Ms. Laporte’s allegations that as CAO, I have been approving expenses
and payroll changes ‘unilaterally’, without awareness of Council and in contravention of the
Community Charter. This is a serious allegation.
What Ms. Laporte fails to mention in her allegation is that all payroll increases that I authorize
are brought forward to me by the Manager of Human Resources and are the result of
recommendations from the City’s Joint Union/Management Liaison Committee in accordance
with the City’s Collective Agreement with the International Union of Operating Engineers
(Attachment B). The salary increases referenced by Ms. Laporte reflect changes in duties
required to effectively deliver our services and the rates of pay are negotiated between the City
and the Union with a resulting Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Clearly, these are not
unilateral decisions on my part. Furthermore, at no time have I, or any of my predecessors, taken
these payroll matters before Council for approval as the process is clearly defined and agreed to
by the City in the Collective Agreement.
Ms. Laporte’s ‘Letter to the Editor’ and accompanying documentation claims that the increases I
had approved without Council’s consent totaled $49,500. The City’s Manager of Human
Resources has provided a detailed report documenting every pay rate increase that I approved in
2010, resulting in a combined annualized cost of $24,907 (Attachment C).
In further response to Ms. Laporte’s allegations, I feel it is important to clarify for the public the
role of the Community Charter in governing municipal finances and expenditures.
Section 165 of the Community Charter requires that a municipality establish a Five-year Financial
Plan each year (Attachment D). This is a high level plan that must identify all revenue sources as
well as total operating expenses, total capital expenses, debt payments and transfers to reserves
and must be balanced in any given year. In other words, the City cannot carry a deficit budget.
The total operating expenditures in the City’s 2010 Financial Plan Bylaw (Attachment E) was
$17,589,150 and capital expenditures were $13,850,235. It is important to note that the Five Year
Financial Plan Bylaw approved by Council does not include a detailed allocation of Operations
or Capital expenditures. Following adoption of the Five Year Financial Plan each year, the
Finance Department prepares a general ledger where the approved total Operations budget is
allocated by department and function, based on the budget allocations approved by Council
during the budget development process. Additionally, year one of the Five Year Capital Plan,
which is approved by Council through the budget development process is incorporated into the
general ledger.
In 2009 as the new CAO, I initiated a formal quarterly review process to provide Council with a
scheduled update on the status of general operations, capital plan and the operations budget.
The quarterly reporting process was enhanced in 2010 to provide even more detailed budget
information to allow Council and staff to make strategic budget decisions, particularly for the
final quarter of the year.
It is the ultimate responsibility of the CAO that the total Operating and Capital expenses are not
over-spent in a given year and that the objectives of Council are delivered. This is achieved
through financial tracking and reporting by the Director of Financial Services and diligent
financial management by the various Department Heads. Following each budget year, the
Community Charter requires that the City’s finances are subject to an external audit and reported
publicly.
It is my recommendation that Council should consider a review of the current financial policies
and procedures to ensure current and future reporting practices are established in policy and to
improve over-all transparency and understanding of the City financial management
responsibilities and practices.
In the ten years that I have worked for the City of Williams Lake in a variety of senior
management capacities, I am confident that I have served Council, my staff and the community
with integrity, honesty, respect and the best of intentions.
As my report clearly demonstrates, the allegations and insinuations made by Ms. Laporte, which
were subsequently published, are blatantly false and unfounded. As a result, I want Council and
the community to know that as an individual, I will be pursuing all appropriate avenues of legal
recourse against Ms. Laporte and any other party that has participated in, or contributed to, this
deliberate, intentional and orchestrated campaign to discredit my personal character and
professional reputation. Not only was this campaign undertaken in the local media through
radio and print under the guise of ‘news’, but was also distributed through web sites and blogs,
resulting in infinite distribution and a permanent and irreparable blight on my character and
professional reputation.
Should Council have any doubts or concerns with respect to my response to Ms. Laporte’s claims
or my management of the City’s finances, I strongly urge Council to request the City’s auditor to
review Ms. Laporte’s claims that are of a public interest as part of the City’s annual financial
audit which will take place in late March.
In conclusion, I firmly believe my professional reputation and integrity stands on its own record
and that Ms. Laporte’s allegations and behavior speaks for itself.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian Carruthers
Chief Administrative Officer
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