Peter Kelly spent hundreds of thousands without authorization, says Alta. county
County asks for provincial review of spending authorized by former CAO, now employed by City of Charlottetown
The council of a small farming community north of Edmonton has asked the province of Alberta to conduct a review of its operations, including the conduct of its former chief administrative officer, who is now Charlottetown's CAO.
Westlock County's chief financial officer says Peter Kelly, also the former mayor of Halifax, authorized the spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars in municipal funds without the knowledge or approval of council.
"They're going to find attempts to bypass council, work around council," said Westlock Coun. Dennis Primeau, speaking of the review.
In a briefing last month, chief financial officer Sue Oberg told councillors that Kelly authorized $390,570 in non-budgeted spending while he was county CAO. The money was spent to develop a site in the county's industrial park for a potential client.
Alberta's Municipal Government Act gives council the authority to put a cap on spending that is not included in a budget. Without council approval, Westlock's CAO was only authorized to spend $10,000, said Oberg.
'Complete and accurate information'
The county's auditor has advised the county to write down the value of the property because the development costs exceeded the potential resale value.
I worked closely with the public works department and relied on their information and costings to provide myself and council with complete and accurate information.- Peter Kelly, Charlottetown CAO
"The write-off at this point is a loss to the county of over $200,000," Oberg told CBC News.
Kelly declined a request for an interview with CBC News, but in an emailed statement said the work done on the site was stipulated in a lease agreement passed by council.
"I worked closely with the public works department and relied on their information and costings to provide myself and council with complete and accurate information," Kelly said in the statement.
When county staff launched an investigation into the issue, Oberg noted, "it was discovered that the complete file is missing from the Westlock County offices."
Halifax concert scandal
Kelly came under fire while mayor of Halifax in 2011 over hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments by the city to concert promoters without the knowledge of council.
The city's auditor general said Halifax Regional Municipality lost $360,000 due to poor attendance at the concerts.
At the time, Kelly said he took responsibility and it wouldn't happen again.
Primeau said Westlock councillors were aware of the Halifax concert scandal when they hired Kelly, but they weren't aware of another controversy dogging the former Halifax mayor until later.
"I regret that we did it," Primeau said of the decision to hire Kelly.
"The guy had a bad history and we should have never brought him in here. Because he left there and it didn't stop when he got here."
'You don't need this fellow'
Primeau said he was "horrified" when he heard the City of Charlottetown had named Kelly its CAO.
"I'm assuming he's still on the six-month trial. My only recommendation to Charlottetown is, 'You don't need this fellow.' That would be what I would tell them, if they were to come to me and ask my opinion. Stay away from him."
My only recommendation to Charlottetown is, 'You don't need this fellow.'- Westlock Coun. Dennis Primeau
In his statement to CBC News, Kelly said he "would encourage a thorough review of the matter" in Westlock.
He also said he was "further concerned that the paper file with the detailed cost information and other important documents has gone missing or possibly has been destroyed; as this fully documented project and complete file, was left in the offices with through (sic) knowledge before my departure."
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