City Council’s decision not to hire an external auditor to examine the allegations of Mayor Nolan Crouse’s “double billing” in claiming per diems from the City and the Capital Region Board is very disappointing. An external auditor would have helped clear the air on the matter.
There is a lot of confusion over just how much money Mayor Crouse owes or is owed. In the Oct. 8 edition of the Gazette, Mayor Crouse stated that he had repaid more than $600 to the City, and $1,200 to the CRB. In the Oct. 31 edition of the St. Albert Leader, Mayor Crouse says that he may be owed $1,763 or $1,698. In the submission he gave to Council for the Oct. 27, 2014 meeting of Council, Mayor Crouse admitted that he made a number of mistakes in his record-keeping. By his own admission, this is shocking negligence on his part.
As Councillor Sheena Hughes pointed out during the debate, hiring an external auditor, with specialized skills in this type of review, would have removed all doubt and settled the matter once and for all. An external auditor’s investigation might even have vindicated Mayor Crouse, confirming that he is in fact owed money as he stated in the St. Albert Leader. Unfortunately, Council chose not to go that route.
During the debate, Coun. Cathy Heron noted that the costs of hiring an external auditor might go past $10,000 to $30,000 to recover far less money. Compared to other projects of more dubious value that the city has spent far more money on, such as the “wayfinding” signs that were built when residents already had so many other ways to find different places in St. Albert, an external auditor would have been well worth the investment. It would have settled this whole matter once and for all.
It would also likely have done more to clear Mayor Crouse than some of the letters written to the Gazette recently. Those make hysterical accusations of vindictive “witch hunts” toward certain members of council for raising something that needs to be fully examined. The mayor himself admits he has made serious mistakes.
Fortunately, Coun. Wes Brodhead made an excellent point when he talked about how much the City’s policies on per diems and payments to elected officials for serving on external organizations like the CRB need to be reformed. Fortunately, even if council was split on the idea of hiring an external auditor, they tended to agree more on the need to review and update the relevant city policies.
If nothing else, let’s hope that council goes ahead with this. The matter still isn’t settled, and we need to take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Jared Milne, St. Albert
