The City of Delta wants more transparency for its taxpayers.
That’s what Mayor George Harvie said at council on Monday as he introduced a notice of motion to have staff change Delta’s current purchasing policy.
The motion stems from reports that the police department spent $42,000 on a public relations firm last year to help deal with the incident involving police chief Neil Dubord’s wife, Lorraine Dubord.
Currently, only contracts valued $50,000 and above need to go to council for approval.
Harvie said over the last few years there’s been an expectation that contracts under $50,000, that could potentially have been a concern for council, be sent to council for approval.
He said it’s now appropriate that any expenditures for external services “that do not represent our core services or are unique and in need of transparency” need to be reviewed by the city manager and director of finance to determine if council approval would be required.
The Delta police board will be asked to adopt a similar policy.
Council unanimously approved the motion.
During a heated discussion, Coun. Lois Jackson said other questions that need to be answered include how the police expenditure for a PR firm came to be in the first place and what the police board knew.
Council agreed to request the information.
Reminding Jackson of provisions in the Police Act, Harvie said he’s been handcuffed by the act to not publicly voice his opinions on police board spending.
A separate motion approved Monday will have the city make a submission to the province’s Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act requesting changes to the act.
Harvie noted additional representation of elected council members is needed on boards and elected council appointees should have equal rights to participate as the appointed board members.
