The Town of The Blue Mountains has joined with other Grey County municipalities to appoint a joint compliance audit committee.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 30, council approved a staff report appointing the audit committee for the 2022 - 2026 council term. The Municipal Elections Act (MEA) requires a municipality to establish an audit committee for the term of council. In the past two elections, the nine-member municipalities of Grey County have combined to appoint a joint committee.
“A qualified elector who believes on reasonable grounds that a candidate or registered third party has contravened a provision of the MEA relating to election campaign finances, may apply to the compliance audit committee for a compliance audit of the candidate’s or registered third party’s finances,” Clerk Corrina Giles said in her report. “The compliance audit committee is also required to consider any report provided by the clerk that identifies any contributor that appears to have contravened established contribution limits.”
The committee must be at least three members and can be no more than seven. It shall not include: employees or officers of the municipality or local board; members of council or local boards; any person who is a candidate in the election for which the committee is established and any persons who are registered third parties in the municipality in the election for which the committee is established.
The committee members will be: Dan Sullivan, David Nusko, John Leslie Hollin and Bryan G. Allendorf. Committee members are paid a $1,000 retainer over the four years ($250 per year) and receive $200 per meeting that is less than four hours and $300 per meeting if it is over four hours. They also receive mileage. The costs for any meeting are borne by the host municipality.
Clerks from three lower-tier municipalities reviewed the applications for the positions and completed background checks.
The committee of the whole approval of the report and appointments must be formally endorsed at council’s next regular meeting.
