This presentation was done on December 3rd with no Citizen's attending the meeting since it was so short of notice. This was likely planned for this date due to the knowledge that it would be a full house on December 10th with Citizen's showing up for the 4th Concession By-Law repeal meeting. In this second meeting you can clearly tell the difference in the demeanor of the Councilors. All of the tough talk is gone and there's enough glad handing and praise that it would appear that's it's a rehearsed show to make everyone feel good. Everyone but the tax payer of course.
November 26th LPRCA Budget Discussion Video - Part 1
November 26th LPRCA Budget Discussion Video - Part 2
* With Citizen's in attendance - talk is tough.
December 3rd LPRCA Budget Presentation Video - Part 1
December 3rd LPRCA Budget Presentation Video - Part 2
December 3rd LPRCA Budget Presentation Video - Part 3
* With no Citzen's in attendance watch how Council behaves differently.
In meeting 1 there were some valid points made. Councilor Charlie Luke asked some pointed questions regarding the increase to staff expenses and it was noted that this would be brought up at the presentation meeting. Disappointly, this was never brought up again.
Of note in the 1st meeting as well, Councilor Roger Geysens who is also the Chairman of the Board at the LPRCA tells Council that the LPRCA has no idea if they are making or losing money on their camping operations! In the 2nd meeting it's mentioned that the campgrounds were only filled to a 60% capacity this year and the Provincial average for Conservation Authority's is 70%. Long Point Provincial Parks are filled to near capacity for the entire season but the LPRCA blames the poor weather for their turnout. Council never mentions if or how attendance could be increased.
One very major concern that should be taken from the 1st meeting is when Mr Geysens announces to Council that they were in the process of a 'forensic audit'. This should have set off alarm bells across the table but not one Councilor even mentions it in either meeting. In the 2nd meeting the topic of 'audit' is brought up yet again. The LPRCA uses what is known as a 'qualified opinion audit' to verify their books.
Council obviously does not understand the definition's of these 2 types of audit's so we will post them for all to understand.
Qualified Opinion Audit
The accounting firm that carried out the Audit states ' The authority derives revenue from donations and sundry cash sources, the completeness of which is not susceptible of satisfactory audit verification.' KPMG
Forensic Audit as defined by The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is 'specific procedures carried out in order to produce evidence. The forensic accountant could be asked to investigate many different types of fraud. It is useful to categorize these types into three groups to provide an overview of the wide range of investigations that could be carried out. The three categories of frauds are corruption, asset misappropriation and financial statement fraud.'
HELLO Council. Are we even awake at these meetings? You are voting on increasing funding to an organization that is being investigated for fraud!
Four Norfolk County Councilors sit on the Board at the LPRCA and have a fiduciary duty to the Citizen's. Signing over Backus Woods to The Nature Conservancy of Canada and allowing NCC to direct the use of the funds may keep the kids from blowing their inheritance. They certainly can't be trusted to manage money on their own.
Here is a link to a page from the Chartered Accountants of Canada and the 20 questions that Directors of non-profit organizations should ask about fiduciary duty. Directors have a Duty of Care and Duty of Loyalty and ours appear to have discarded those values.
If Mr. Geysens erred in his wording, he needs to understand the severity of his words. In a publicly listed corporation investors would flee so fast upon hearing those words that the stock price would be in a free fall. If's he's correct then Council should have taken notice and Mr. Geysens should be commended for leading the charge on getting to the bottom of the alleged fraud. The forensic audit results will likely be swept under the table and there will be no mention of it in the local newspapers to inform the Citizens.
This brings up the CEO of the Corporation. Our General Manager, Cliff Evanitski appears to make up for his lack of financial prowess with his communication abilities. The Long Point Foundation for Conservation was an entity setup to fund raise and make donations to the LPRCA. In 2006 the LPFC donated $54,520 to the LPRCA. Coincidentally it was the last year of having a filed tax return and Mr Evanitski's promotion to GM. LPFC's charity status is now revoked for non-filing and now points to LPRCA.
How long do you go without doing your tax return before you are forced to do something about it? If you can't manage a small charity are you the proper person for a much larger one?
Why would LPRCA have any need for fund raising when they have the public teat?
Will the Board or Council ever question Mr. Evanitski about his poor financial track record or keep refilling the trough? When does accountability become a line item in his job description? Transparency? Anything but.
Four Norfolk County Councilors are on the board at LPRCA with another 2 having spent considerable time there previously. It would appear that they have the knowledge to make an informed decision but not the ability. Running an almost $4-million Corporation from the side of your desk is not in the Citizen's of Norfolk County's best interest.
Councilor Peter Black asked if the new Administration building was adding an additional burden to the Conservation Authority? That is obvious. Taking care of a whooping 16,000 sq foot building for 21 full-time employees is a huge money suck and they even have to drive to another County to do any outdoor work. Considering the fact that the Oxford County costs of maintaining the LPRCA is partially reserved by the paid property taxes on the building, Norfolk is the biggest loser. Mr Evanitski states that he is in constant contact with Norfolk County staff on a daily and weekly basis so would it not behoove Council to relocate the LPRCA to the new Administration building being renovated right now in Simcoe? Save people the 36 minute one way trip? The new administration building was not likely planned well enough out in advance to accommodate this as our Staff seems stricken by having to host the Gentlemen of the Road show.
Maybe it's Oxford's County low tax rate for commercial properties that drives that decision? Oxford's commercial businesses enjoy a 0.80% rate as compared to Norfolk's 3.22%.
Little wonder that Citizen's are always being asked to leave the LPRCA public (not-for-public) meetings. We do have the skills to ask for FACTS and use publicly available data to back them up. Norfolk County Council may have the hammer in their hand but we're guessing it's something else they are actually holding on to while patting LPRCA on the back for the poor results.
To answer Councilor Charlie's Luke's question about staffing expenses. It's as follows according to the LPRCA budget's put to Council over the years.
Staff $1,764,216 (2010) up to $2,348,537 (2014)
Staff related expenses $17,600 (2010) up to$63,251 (2014)
For Councilor Blacks penchant for percentages it's a 33% and 259% increase respectively. Push those percentages into the future at that rate of increase and you will find bankruptcy/bail out at some point soon.
We feel that the Financial Breakdown that we posted online was just too complex for Councilors to understand so we'll high light this data before it's gets voted on again. Stay tuned.
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