Delta council on Monday will discuss a staff report on a proposed change to the city’s purchasing policy.
The staff report was prompted by a recent revelation that the Delta Police Department hired a public relations firm last year to help manage the fallout from a June 2020 incident involving Chief Neil Dubord’s wife, Lorraine.
A staff report notes Delta's purchasing policy, approved by council in 2006, lays out the requirements for public procurement and ensures the city meets its obligations with respect to transparency and compliance with legal requirements.
Contracts valued under $50,000 typically did not have to go to council for approval.
The revised policy would include a requirement that expenditures for external services under $50,000 that “do not represent our core services or are unique and in need of transparency be reviewed by the City Manager and Director of Finance to determine if council approval would be required.”
The report also notes, “Given the existing purchasing policy was last approved by council in 2006, a review and modernization of the existing policy will be undertaken by staff for consideration by council in the near future.”
If approved, staff will forward a letter to the Delta Police Board requesting they adopt a similar purchasing policy. It remains to be seen if the board would follow suit.
Mayor George Harvie last month brought forward a motion to revise the policy when it became public that the DPD hired the PR firm at a cost of $42,000.
Harvie, who chairs the police board, said he would ask council to take steps to increase transparency, adding he also looks forward to the province’s review of the Police Act which had hamstrung him not to speak out publicly about the police board’s vote at the time.
He said the current act relegated him “to play the part of a defenseless punching bag.”
History of the incident
The incident involving Lorraine Dubord occurred on June 6, 2020 when Richmond teacher and Surrey resident Kiran Sidhu was making her way back to her parked car after a socially-distanced picnic with friends at Centennial Beach in Boundary Bay.
Unfamiliar with the beach area, and with the tide coming in, Sidhu said she was forced to climb onto rocks, which are on public property, to get to where her car was parked.
As Sidhu walked across the rocks, which were along the Dubord’s fence line, she said Lorraine Dubord yelled at her over the fence from her back yard to get down, but with the tide coming in, Sidhu said she was unable to do so.
Both Dubord and Sidhu exchanged words and Dubord left their altercation only to return moments later where she allegedly sprayed Sidhu with a garden hose.
Surrey RCMP investigated the incident and recommended charges against Dubord of one count of uttering threats for allegedly threatening to push Sidhu off the rocks and one count of assault for spraying her with the hose.
An RCMP investigation was initiated after Sidhu was not happy with how DPD handled her case and after she logged a formal complaint with the department.
The BC Prosecution Service in September announced that rather than charges, Dubord would face alternative measures.
Lorraine Dubord did issue an apology when the story broke late last June, provided exclusively to the Optimist, for “the way the situation was handled.”
There is still an external Vancouver Police Department (VPD) investigation into related matters concerning Lorraine Dubord, an investigation that has civilian oversight through the Office of the Police Complaints Commission (OPCC).
The OPCC last month announced that it was extending the timeline for its investigation.
It is expected that the OPCC investigation report will be released sometime in March.
