The Citizen, 2012-11-15, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012. PAGE 11.
While the divorce between Huron
County and several members of its
senior management team has been
dealt with largely in closed session,a set of recommendations laid out aseries of guidelines to manage future
members of the senior management
team was presented to council at the
Nov. 7 meeting.
The letter of recommendationfrom Marcus and Associates andHoare-Dalton, dated Oct. 24, 2012,
outlined best practices for the county
in terms of county-issued credit
cards, county-purchased vehicles for
use by members of the seniormanagement team and mileagemanagement.
The 13-page-long letter is a public
document and was presented to
councillors, staff members and
members of the local media at the
Nov. 7 meeting in Goderich.
Many recommendations in the
letter pointed to approval by the
CAO (when one is hired), including
that senior management team
expense reports, councillor expense
reports and per diem reports
should all be approved by the CAO,
according the recommendations.
Further up the chain, it was also
recommended that the warden, as
well as another councillor, review
and approve the CAO’s expense
reports.
The letter also called for a
clarification of what is considered a
valid travel expense and what is not.
In terms of county-issued credit
cards, the letter recommends a
policy be put in place for approval of
the card reports, as there isn’t one
currently.
This is, however, if the county
wishes to continue using the cards.
The letter recommends a thorough
review of the process, asking if the
use of cards is appropriate, or
whether the county would run more
efficiently if councillors and
members of the senior management
team simply use their own credit
cards and are reimbursed via an
expense report.
The report stated that
reimbursement of funds would come
on one expense report, rather than a
multitude of credit card reports (noone could accurately answer thequestion of exactly how many
county-issued cards were in
circulation).
In regards to county-issued
vehicles, again the letter
recommended a thorough review of
their usage, asking if it was
necessary to purchase and assign the
vehicles at all. The report made the
case that perhaps members of the
senior management team didn’t
need vehicles bought for them and
that mileage reports from
their personal vehicles would be
an adequate way to reimburse
them.
The report also called for changes
to be made to the amount of vacation
time offered to members of
the senior management team, as
well as policy surrounding the
banking of vacation hours. The
report stated that some vacation
pay and vacation hour banks related
to the senior management
team exceeded the amount
allowed by the county policy at the
time.
Recommendations point to more security
Continued from page 1
policies.
MacLellan said he wasn’t against
Shewfelt’s recommendation, but that
if he wanted to “call in the cards”
there would still have to be at least
one card assigned to the county
because of the way commerce works
today.
He said he didn’t need a credit
card as the warden and he wasn’t
sure that the CAO and members of
the senior management team needed
credit cards, but that one credit card
could remain at the courthouse for
county usage. He said with
everything being done on the
internet, it’s just a fact in “this day
and age” that conference fees and
hotel reservations simply have to be
made online and with a credit card.
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh’s
Ben Van Diepenbeek said that
county vehicles shouldn’t be a big
issue. Four of the vehicles are
already off the road, he said, with
the absence of a CAO, a treasurer, a
clerk and a director of human
resources, and there are only three
still in circulation. He said the
county could start to make
arrangements to begin pulling those
cars in with the three members of
the senior management team who
are still driving county-owned cars.
Apart from that, Van Diepenbeek
said, he wanted more time to
“digest” the report, as he hadn’t had
a chance to read it thoroughly either.
A motion to begin negotiations
with the three remaining managers
with cars was then put on the floor,
despite Jewitt saying that more time
was needed to discuss such serious
changes in policy. Shewfelt,
however, corrected Jewitt, saying
that it wasn’t policy that was
changing, just the means of paying
Council to tighten leash on
senior management team
Do we have a buyer? Yuuuuup!
It wasn’t quite A&E’s hit television show Storage Wars at Melville Presbyterian Church in
Brussels on Saturday, but David Blaney, not pictured, was doing his best Dave Hester
impression as the church’s annual auction rolled on. Auctioning off items was Rick McInroy
and showing them off was Laura Armstrong. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
COMMEMORATE THE NEWEST
FAMILY MEMBER'S 1ST NEW YEAR
Join the gallery of faces in The Citizen's
baby photo display January 10, 2013
Send or bring a picture of your little one born in
2012 along with a writeup which includes full name,
birth date and parents' names, to be featured in The
Citizen's Gallery of Faces on January 10, 2013, for
only $20.00 (HST included).
Please send picture (with name on back), along
with a cheque, to The Citizen prior to January 4.
Photos may be picked up after January 10.
THIS MUST BE PRE-PAID.
- Sample -
Please Complete
Baby's Full Name______________________
Son ❑Daughter ❑
Birth Date_____________________________
Parents' Names________________________
$20.00 Enclosed
DEADLINE - January 4
2 pm in Brussels • 4 pm in Blyth
❑
Alex John Smith
May 18
son of
Mike & Laura
Smith
B a b i e s o f t h e
Y ear 2012
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By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
ON $6.00 THURSDAYS
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(maximum 20 words) and pay only
$6.00 + HST (paid in advance).
That’s $1.00 off regular rates.
The Citizen
Continued on page 20