(Thread) Good afternoon Niagara Twitter denizens. I am happy to report we have some answers from @NiagaraRegion regarding an outstanding question we had about the hiring of lawyer Paul DeMelo to advise council regarding the CAO's employment.
As you may recall, @NiagaraRegion hired DeMelo when councillors learned that CAO Carmen D'Angelo's contract had been extended without their knowledge. DeMelo focuses on the Municipal Act and related matters and was hired to advise council as it considers what to do next.
The revelation that it could cost upwards of $1 million dollars to end D'Angelo's employment came the same day as our #AlltheChairMen feature story showing the CAO hiring process was tainted in 2016.
All The Chair's Men: stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/879…
The hiring of Mr. DeMelo raised eyebrows among some councillors because he was one of the lawyers who represented Mr. D'Angelo during the failed @NPCA_Ontario defamation suit against @ABNEdSmith
At the time we published the above story on Aug 17, we asked @NiagaraRegion who authorized the hiring of Mr. DeMelo to advise council. We finally got an answer today.
A regional spokesman has confirmed that D'Angelo, with input from legal director Donna Gibbs, authorized the hiring of DeMelo.
"Regional Council delegated authority to the CAO on these matters during the Lame-Duck period, and as such hired external counsel with extensive experience related to the Municipal Act to advise the corporation on the Act and pertinent lame-duck provisions." says the spokesman.
In context, this means that D'Angelo authorized hiring the lawyer who previously represented him in a defamation suit to advise @NiagaraRegion councillors debating D'Angelo's hiring, contract and employment at the region.
This is the reason that councillors have directed @NiagaraRegion to hire a "fully independent" legal expert to advise them as they debate the issues surrounding D'Angelo and his contract extension done unilaterally by @ForNiagara. stcatharinesstandard.ca/news-story/886…
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I'm working one some new political features for you, but in the meantime, here is a quick #niagaravotes2018#factcheck. Today, we look at the campaign literature of Niagara Falls regional councillor and @NiagRegPolice board chair Bob Gale. Here is the back of his flier. (Thread)
One of the things to note is the police budget increases from 2003 to 2014 which he pegs at 14% to 30%, where as in his tenure as chair, it is much lower. This is true as far as it goes, but it lacks critical context.
One of the things to point out here is that in the early 2000s, the NRP expanded its size by hiring more officers. This was after years of either reductions or effective hiring freezes. There has been no comparable expansion in many years, naturally stabilizing budget growth.