ARICHAT: The warden of Richmond County feels that the $250,000 spent on lawyers and legal services by the municipality over the past two years was “maybe not” acceptable and is describing a recent forensic audit of expense claims as “a waste” of public funds.
Brian Marchand made the comments following last week’s regular monthly meeting of Richmond Municipal Council, as reporters questioned him about a recent access to information request by a provincial media outlet that determined the municipality had far exceeded its annual legal budget of approximately $50,000 in each of the past two years.
The access to information request determined that the municipality paid over $80,000 on a forensic audit covering five years’ worth of expense claims by municipal councillors and staff. This audit was carried out by legal firm Boyne Clarke with the assistance of municipal auditors Grant Thornton.
In addressing the issue, Marchand pointed out that while he supported the concept of a forensic audit, he was the only councillor to vote against the exact terms of the audit during a motion that reached the council table on May 2. The warden is now suggesting that municipal staff could have carried out the work conducted by Boyne Clarke and Grant Thornton during the spring, summer and early fall of 2016.
“The type of audit we went for, I was in disagreement with, and that’s why I say it was a waste – we didn’t go for the right type,” Marchand declared.
“It was just quantifying numbers on exactly what was spent in travel, food and other expenses. Staff could have done that for us.”
The access to information request also found that the municipality incurred $26,000 in legal fees in connection to the resignation of Warren Olsen from his post as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Richmond County on October 30.
In addition, Warden Marchand was questioned on a combined $58,000 in legal fees connected to Richmond County’s refusal to accept a ruling by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB) to reduce the number of council districts from 10 to five. These costs include $18,000 in initial legal costs and an application to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal that was dismissed after less than an hour of deliberation just over a year ago, costing the municipality a further $40,000.
Marchand, who voted in favour of the appeal, as well as the original motion requesting that the county keep its previous 10 council seats, suggested that “in hindsight, not everybody makes perfect decisions” but defended the municipality’s course of action.
“It was a path and a course that needed to be done, and it was done,” Marchand declared.
“Was the outcome and the result what everyone wanted? I can’t answer that, but hopefully we’re just going to leave that in the past and move on.”
Asked whether the final cost of the legal battle over municipal boundaries and similar endeavours was warranted, Marchand paused before simply replying: “Maybe not.”