The Blue Mountains council has reversed course on following a bid procss to select a new integrity commissioner and instead will pursue a deal with Grey County’s commissioner.
At its meeting on Oct. 30, council changed direction on how it will choose an integrity commissioner. At a previous committee of the whole meeting, council had narrowly approved moving forward with a request for proposals (RFP) process to select a new provider of integrity commissioner services. However, that vote passed after a resolution to use Grey County’s integrity commissioner firm, Principles Integrity, was defeated in a split 3-3 vote.
At the latest meeting, Mayor Andrea Matrosovs was back at the council table after having been absent from the previous meeting. The mayor’s presence and a change in Coun. Alex Maxwell’s position on the matter led council to reject the RFP option and go with the county option.
The issue generated a lengthy discussion that times was tense. At one point, Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon apologized for comments he made suggesting that a council working group that developed the RFP option had tailored the RFP to favour a specific individual/firm for the integrity commissioner’s job.
When it came time for final approval on how to proceed, council split on the issue. Councillors Paula Hope, June Porter and Shawn McKinlay favoured proceeding with an RFP - the motion passed at the previous committee of the whole meeting.
However, they were ultimately overruled by the other four members of council who felt that Grey County had already conducted a good process to select Principles Integrity.
As part of the county’s selection process, lower-tier municipalities are also able to negotiate with Principles Integrity to use their services. The Blue Mountains is the only municipality in Grey County not to use Principles Integrity for the service. The county recently extended its contract with Principles Integrity.
Bordignon said the county had gone through the procurement process to select Principles Integrity and there wasn’t a need for The Blue Mountains to have its own RFP.
“I think it’s advantageous that we move forward with Principles Integrity as our integrity commissioner,” he said.
While McKinlay argued that a lot of work had been done to prepare an RFP and council should follow through and complete the process.
“We’ve started down this road, we might as well see it through until the end,” he said.
Hope said she was concerned council was going to “rubber stamp” the county’s choice and would sole source the service without going through the full RFP process.
“I’m surprised we’re even going there,” she said.
CAO Shawn Everitt explained that going with Principles Integrity would not be a “sole source” situation. He said the county had conducted a selection process and, where possible, lower tier municipalities will “piggyback” on county RFP processes to save time and money.
“It does provide significant efficiencies,” said Everitt.
Matrosovs agreed.
“It was a fair and transparent process over at the county level,” she said, noting that it was a good opportunity “to be in sync with the county.”
