The Voice
Larry “BILKO” THE Bilkszto PAPER THAT PELHAM READS
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bilko@rgcmail.com Vol.21 No.34
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
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Region to Pelham: Hand over the audit Column Six Lenders to be
Coping with stress, Mad Men style
warned of potential change in Pelham books BY SAMUEL PICCOLO and DAVE BURKET
The VOICE
Niagara Regional Council passed a motion regarding Pelham’s finances at its meeting last Thursday night. The motion, which was the product of a special session of the Region’s Audit Committee held last Tuesday, calls on the Town of Pelham to release the KPMG audit alleged by former Councillor Marvin Junkin to have occurred this summer without previous notice to Pelham Town Council. [Editor’s note: Readers wishing to follow last week’s events in chronological order are invited to stop here and see the first entry in the Publisher’s Corner, p. 2, before continuing on.] The motion also deferred any Regional consideration of additional Town debt— which includes the third portion of community centre funding—until the audit is released, and instructed Regional staff to inform Infrastructure Ontario that “there may be a material change in the Town of Pelham’s financial position.” All of the motion’s clauses passed with wide majorities. Discussion of Pelham finances occupied nearly two hours at the beginning of the meeting, with Council first hearing a presentation from residents Nancy Beamer and Bernie Law on behalf of the advocacy group Pelham See RELEASE IT Page 10
BY PAMELA ROBB
Special to the VOICE
M
Pelham Mayor Augustyn, left, responds to Nancy Beamer and Bernie Law, at the podium, on Thursday.
SAMUEL PICCOLO PHOTO
Urgent Regional Audit meeting on Pelham revelations Committee virtually unanimous in its expression of alarm
At an emergency meeting on Tuesday morning, the Niagara Region Audit Committee called on the Town of Pelham to release the audit reportedly conducted by KPMG this summer into Town finances. The audit, which is said to have shown an additional $17 million in hidden debt, was first disclosed by former Councillor Marvin Junkin, who resigned in protest from Pelham Town Council last week. Committee Chair Tony Quirk began by explaining his rationale for calling the meeting. “Allegations were made in the local paper,” said Quirk, “and at that time I reached out to the [Region’s] CAO and asked a series of questions covering
BY VOICE STAFF the impact of the allegations on the Region.” CAO Carmen D’Angelo’s responses concerned Quirk enough that he called the meeting to consider these impacts. Members of the Committee began by questioning Regional staff about the implications of the allegations made by Junkin. “My name is on that document,”
said Regional Chair Alan Caslin, referring to a financing agreement between the Region, Pelham, and Infrastructure Ontario. “I want to know what I signed for. Does staff require any further information?” The Region’s Acting Commissioner, Jason Burgess, responded. “We rely on the certificate from a Town’s Treasurer. If there is an audit—if more information is coming—we would review that.” Caslin asked whether he could withdraw his support for the debt authorization. Burgess replied that the document had already been committed See COMMITTEE Page 6
DEBBIE PINE
See COLUMN SIX back page
NIAGARA REAL ESTATE CENTER, Brokerage 1815 Merritville, Hwy 1 FONTHILL, ON
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NIAGARA / FONTHILL, ON Cremation/Burial
Y F I R ST-GR A DE teacher, Mrs. Bailey, age 60ish back in 1960, during the school day would often go into her teacher’s closet, beside the coat hooks, cubby holes, and boot boxes at the back of the classroom, and do what looked to me like staring, or talking into a paper bag. As a six-year-old, I thought it was strange and very mysterious behaviour for the only adult in the room to do. I remember after school one day asking my mother. “Mom, how come Mrs. Bailey is always looking or talking into a paper bag in the teacher’s closet after recess?” My mother, standing at the kitchen sink, whirled around so fast her skirt twirled up, and she shushed down on me so vigorously that I was showered in a spray of saliva. As the mist dissipated, she said in her I-mean-business-younglady voice, “Don’t you tell tales on Mrs. Bailey, and if you are not fibbing, you had just better mind your own business, and stop asking silly questions!” And that was the end of that. No more trying to solve the mystery of Mrs. Bailey’s fondness for paper bags, until I was much old-
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