Council split on Brampton University forensic audit

Sparks flew again in Brampton City Council chambers this week over a forensic audit of the now-scrapped Brampton University project.

Last month, council tasked city staff to investigate any possible wrongdoing related to the BramptonU initiative following revelations that taxpayers handed out more than $629,000 to four vendors for the project between 2019 and 2021, with nearly half of the deliverables under the BramptonU umbrella unable to be found.

After another contentious special meeting on Tuesday (May 31) and vote of 6-5, council directed staff to begin the audit process with an undisclosed firm, with city directors and commissioners instructed “to grant full and open access to any and all records in regards to BramptonU.”

All closed session meeting records, including audio tapes specific to the BramptonU file, are also to be made available to the forensic audit team upon request.

Tuesday’s motion passed with councillors Rowena Santos, Paul Vicenti, Michael Palleschi, Harkirat Singh and Mayor Patrick Brown opposed, and Martin Medieros, Jeff Bowman, Pat Fortin, Gurpreet Dhillon, Charmaine Williams and Doug Whillans voting in favour.

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“This is taxpayers money, and I know it’s going to cost a little bit of money but we need to find out what went on here,” Regional Coun. Fortini said at the meeting.

Some councillors raised issues with the audit process, particularly a steering committee composed of councillors Fortini, Bowman and Dhillon.

That committee have been instructed to work with the city’s Interim Chief Administrative Officer Paul Morrison to “scope and steer” the financial audit.

But Coun. Santos voiced her concern that members of that committee have already met “directly with the auditor” without a finalized contract.

“To me, it doesn’t seem so transparent if there’s three councillors meeting directly with the potential auditor that hasn’t even signed a contract yet without the presence of the CAO,” Santos said.

She voted against the audit motion on Tuesday, citing concerns that “this process is now flawed.”

Coun. Martin Mederios – who last month said he was concerned of a “cover-up” related to BramptonU – took exception to Santo’s comments, who is the subject of two integrity commissioner (IC) investigations related to the project.

“Talking about giving direction, meeting without contacts – that is exactly why we are here today, and that is why we have this investigation,” he said. “So I find that very rich on some of the comments.”

The IC has been called in to look at possible conflicts of interest between Coun. Rowena Santos and David Wheeler – a former professor of Santos’ and one of the co-founders of Academy for Sustainable Innovation (ASI) – as well as a second investigation for allegedly screaming at a city staffer involved with the BramptonU project.

The report found Wheeler billed the city for more than $4,200 in airfare and accommodations months before the project was given the green light.

Santos had previously cleared her connection to Wheeler with the IC in August, 2019, finding “no bearing on his involvement” with the project, according to a letter Santos shared with insauga.com.

That same letter paints a timeline of Santos having “preliminary discussions” about “the potential for the City of Brampton to establish its own University” with Wheeler between November and December 2018.

Regional Coun. Paul Vicenti said Mederios was “prejudging the events,” but Mederios refuted the claim, saying the auditor will report “direct to council” regardless of the steering committee’s scope and direction.

“No decision can be made by the steering committee because it comes back to council,” Mederios said.