Renfrew to call in OPP over suspected rec centre fraud

Councillors in Renfrew, Ont., have voted to hand police the findings of a fraud investigation into the troubled expansion of the town's recreation centre.

They also sent a directive to staff to launch a civil case claiming fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of duty of good faith.

The decisions come after town councillors received legal advice during a closed-door session Tuesday evening.

For now, the town is not identifying any individual or company it's seeking to sue, nor is it flagging anyone to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), but Renfrew's chief administrative officer confirms the individual or individuals no longer work for the town. 

"We have enough now that we feel it's important to refer the matter to the OPP," Robert Tremblay said. "The town is committed to transparency and accountability, and these actions really flow from that."

The town had not yet made its case to police by Wednesday evening. As such, the OPP said they had no information to comment on when asked.

Budget, size nearly doubled

The expansion of the town's signature recreation centre has become a subject of great controversy in Renfrew, with council asking in late March for the mayor to resign over his role in handling the project.

Mayor Tom Sidney later apologized to residents but did not resign. He declined to comment to CBC regarding Tuesday's vote and directed media inquiries to the town's CAO.

The town of about 8,200 people hired an independent consultant and certified fraud examiner to review how the expansion of the Ma-te-Way Activity Centre, now known as the myFM Centre, ballooned from an initial budget of $18 million for a 49,500-square-foot building to an estimated $35 million for a 96,000-square-foot expansion. 

According to WSCS Consulting's 88-page report, there was a major lack of accountability, transparency and staff training at various steps of the project.

After conducting more than 200 interviews and reviewing more than 80,000 documents, the findings highlight "unkept promises," a "toxic environment," unrealistic budgets, poor decisions and major concerns surrounding "improper" procurement procedures.

Some of the findings have been shared publicly, but other details have been presented only during closed-door council sessions.

While he can't divulge information revealed during those in-camera sessions, Coun. Andrew Dick said he had no hesitation calling the OPP and approving the launch of the lawsuit to recoup some of the cost overruns and potentially to seek damages.

"I'm very happy we're handing this over to the OPP to look into this further," said Dick. "It's really good news for the town of Renfrew because the taxpayers of this town were looking for accountability for what has happened."

Action needed to 'begin to heal'

Dick, who in March urged the mayor to resign, said he's hoping the forthcoming lawsuit and police involvement would be turning points for the town.

"It's something we need to do to get through this, so that we can begin to heal as a town," he said.

Both Tremblay and Dick said it will take time for town councillors and staff to regain the trust of residents. In the meantime, steps are being taken to repair Renfrew's reputation and recover funds.

Tremblay declined to speculate how much money the township will be seeking in damages in its upcoming civil case, but he did say the town is not obliged to do business with companies wrapped up in the investigation.

"We are looking at the disqualification process for one or more vendors," he confirmed. 

Tremblay added that he expects staff will return to council with details of the civil suit by the of June, and at that time should be in a position to officially hand over to the OPP all the evidence contained in the consultant's investigation.