Trade Centre Limited presented the city of Halifax with a bill for $359,550 related to concerts on the Halifax Common on September 30, 2010—that was 20 months ago—but still the issue hasn’t been resolved. Some of that delay related to former acting CAO Wayne Anstey and mayor Peter Kelly keeping the bill secret from anyone who could do anything about it, but they eventually brought it to then-finance director Cathie O’Toole, who immediately alerted the city auditor general and council’s audit committee, opening up publicly what we now refer to as the “concert scandal.”
Last month, Halifax council adopted the 2012/13 annual budget, but made no provision for paying the $359,550 bill or for fighting it. For what it’s worth, it’s my opinion that the city should refuse to pay it, and tell Trade Centre to pound sand. TCL president Scott Ferguson knew damn well the advance-on-ticket-sales scheme was improper—he had been specifically warned by a TCL auditor not to engage in such schemes–and yet he recommended that the city be the conduit for the exact same arrangement to fund Common concerts promoter Harold MacKay.
But this coming Tuesday, Halifax council is scheduled to address the outstanding bill (see item 14.1). Problem is, the matter is scheduled to be debated in secret.
The secrecy is unwarranted. There is simply too much public interest in the concert fiasco for council to come to some resolution behind closed doors. Beyond that, the scandal exists precisely because Kelly thought he could do the public’s business without letting the public know what was going on. This matter, more than most, demands open and public resolution. Councillors should demand that the issue be discussed publicly, and in front of the TV cameras.
Moreover, council should refuse to allow mayor Peter Kelly to preside over the conversation. Despite his claims to be an innocent bystander, documents prove that Kelly was involved in every stage of the improper loans—from receiving Ferguson’s recommendations, to signing onto the loan documents themselves, to his office not sending the loans to the finance office for approval, to going so far as to arrange hush-hush meetings at the Sunnyside Restaurant in Bedford instead of at City Hall, where city staff would know about them. It would be simply outrageous to allow Kelly to preside over any discussion or vote about resolving the unpaid bill.
Councillors should hold the conversation in public, and refuse to let Kelly preside. Anything else is counter to the public interest.
Read Tim Bousquet’s detailed investigation of the concert scandal here. Follow him on Twitter @Tim_Bousquet.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2012.
yep
Ask Savage for his opinion. Open or closed ? Straight question, see if he will give a straight answer. Time to pin him down on specifics. No more mush.
Why in HADES haven’t all these people been held accountable? EVERY time you turn, there is something shady/crooked going on and Peter Kelly is right smack in the middle of it all. No wonder he was knighted with the name TEFLON PETE. No matter what he does wrong/illegal, he is not held accountable because ‘he says he isn’t guilty’ or ‘his lawyers told him it was okay’ when in truth no one told him anything; he makes it up as he goes. Just one lie after another.
Although on a more positive note, I heard that in that old ladies estate that Peter Kelly is executor of and that STILL HAS NOT been looked after by him, that the beneficiaries have gone to the police and have lodged the complaint necessary for an investigation. SHOULD BE INTERESTING !
Crooks, all of them. Fire the whole lot and find someone that can get in there and do the job, I don’t believe the new COA is doing it, where is he in all of this bullshit? Why hasn’t charges been brought against the mayor, why hasn’t someone gone and lodged a complaint at the police station and charged the mayor. Why isn’t anyone standing up and raising shit. Well, guess what I’m about to.