North Bay city council approves new expenses policy

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Peter Chirico sits in the Mayor’s Chair

As it awaits multiple investigations of Mayor Peter Chirico’s controversial use of the corporate credit card, city council in North Bay has approved a new expenses policy.

The new policy is the first update to expenses rules in more than a decade. But with Chirico’s credit card use under investigation by the integrity commissioner, the Ontario Provincial Police and Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing, Coun. Sara Inch said a new policy should wait.

“I feel the timing isn’t right, with investigations underway. Adopting new rules could undermine public trust,” said Inch, at Monday’s special meeting.

Withdrew her name

She withdrew her name as a seconder to the motion to approve the policy, saying information they receive from the investigations could help inform a new policy.

“We can’t fix what went wrong until we know what went wrong,” Inch said.

But Coun. Tanya Vrebosch, who agreed to second the motion, said they could amend the new policy later if needed. But council needed to approve new rules now.

“It was very outdated in the first place,” Vrebosch said.

“I think it’s important that we get something in place now.”

Chirico has admitted to using the corporate credit card for $16,000 in personal expenses, including club memberships and cigarettes. While he has said he has paid the money back, Coun. Mark King said an updated expenses policy is needed to restore “public trust in what goes on in this organization.”

“From my viewpoint, it’s comprehensive -- there’s no grey areas that I could see,” King said.

“We can always amend it (later) … but we need something solid in place and I believe that this policy is very, very solid.”

Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsefield said staff did a lot of research in coming up with the policy, including looking at what other municipalities have in place.

“This really does create a very conservative policy that makes it very clear in different areas that were maybe lacking on that detail before,” Horsefield said, adding that this is the first update since 2010.

Moving forward, she said the policy will be reviewed at the start of every council term to see if it needs to be updated.

The motion was easily approved, with only Inch voting against.