This week’s definition lesson highlights a much-valued human characteristic:
Integrity: in·teg·ri·ty /inˈteɡrədē/
Noun:
- the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. Example when used: “He is known to be a man of integrity.”
Similar words: honesty, honour, ethics, morals, righteousness, decency and trustworthiness
Opposite: dishonesty
- the state of being whole and undivided. Example when used: “The integrity of North Bay City Council is at stake.”
Similar words: unity, unification, wholeness, coherence and cohesion.
I chose the word “integrity” as my first “Word of the Week” feature after reading the inquiry report written by Guy Giorno, the City of North Bay’s Integrity Commissioner, after he probed Mayor Peter Chirico’s expense claims and corporate credit card use.
You’ll find the report on the city’s website under its Code of Conduct page where inquiry reports are kept (it should be there after tonight’s council meeting if they accept the report).
Giorno will be presenting the report to council tonight after it was released to the public yesterday with local media stories attracting a mob of commentary at BayToday and the Nugget.
“Of the $17,253.01 that the Mayor has already reimbursed, I have found Code of Conduct breaches in relation to $5,557.77 of these expenses72 and have not found breaches in relation to $11,695.24 of them,” the report states.
It is now up to council to either dock his pay for up to 90 days or require an apology, as Chirico has already repaid all expenses in question.
Many of those participating in the online debate voice frustration over the limited scope of the inquiry and council’s options regarding punishment, the $20,000-plus cost of the investigation and the overall degradation of the community’s trust in local governance and municipal bureaucracy.
The pettiness of the issues, revelation of vague policies and the amounts involved somehow makes it all the more distasteful.
It really puts a spotlight on why it is important to keep the next mayor’s authority in check and not have someone with the power to override council, including when it comes to choosing the next chief administrative officer.
The report should be required reading for all elected officials in Canada and those contemplating such a role, as well as executives, managers and board members. There’s lots to learn about how not to run a corporation.
For example, if a you’re a mayor and you have convinced council to approve a car allowance, but the payment is delayed for half a year due to red tape, don’t make a habit of charging personal expenses on the corporate credit card and force city mandarins to deduct it from what they owe you. It opens an official up to scrutiny for all decisions and there is bound to be errors made that smell of another kind of rottenness.
And there’s a lot here that reeks of entitlement.
While Chirico defended his attempt at getting taxpayers to fund some of his entertainment and socializing activities (hockey via Battalion tickets and golf at Osprey Golf Club in Callander), the Integrity Commissioner didn’t buy his rationale or his excuse that John Severino, chief administrative officer, approved it in either principle or through signing authority. Severino, it appears, warned Chirico of the poor optics even if it was legitimate. He appears correct, although it likely won’t save his job in the end.
The fact that Chirico previously paid for his own season passes and golfing weighed heavily on the assessment, as well as the lack of evidence he conducted actual city business at the games or on the course. It was especially obvious that it was a personal expense when it was revealed Chirico ordered the 2022-23 season pass several months before he was elected Mayor and part of the season was over before he used the city card to pay for it.
There probably could be legitimate city business conducted while golfing and watching OHL hockey, but that is something council should debate and approve beforehand. Interestingly, when Chirico was trying to explain his perspective when the problems came to light, he said his experience as president of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce and in the private sector at banking institutions, these kind of things are a normal way to do business. It makes me wonder if the chamber paid for his golf and hockey, and if not, why not?
Criminality?
In my opinion, the most egregious breach, as far as the Code of Conduct and potential criminal fraud, involves how he claimed expenses for meals with family members that were falsely described as city business. The low amount of money involved doesn’t matter when it comes to these things.
Quoting the report for those breaches:
C7. Meals with Family
188. The seventh category comprises three personal meals ($198.76 total) that were claimed as City business even though the only participants were relatives of the Mayor.
- The Mayor should have known that these were not proper City expenses. The charges were for meals between him and family members, at local restaurants. They could not be justified as City business. Whether the CAO signed the forms or turned his mind to the presence of the Mayor’s relatives is immaterial. The Mayor should have understood that the meals did not constitute City business, regardless of what the CAO might have signed or said.
- The situation was compounded by the manner in which the expenses were described on the Corporate Credit Card Authorization Forms. An evening dinner of fish and chips and pasta for the Mayor and his wife (July 26, 2023) was identified as “working lunch.”59 Chicken wings and two drinks at a hockey game, for the Mayor and his wife (November 9, 2023), were described as a “meeting.”60 A restaurant meal for the Mayor and his two brothers (January 19, 2024) was a “lunch meeting.”61
- The Mayor did not prepare the forms, but he signed them. Further, I am satisfied that the assistant prepared the forms based on the Mayor’s instructions that the meal receipts were for City business. Whether directly or indirectly, the Mayor had identified the meals as City business in order to support the charges on the corporate credit card.
- In my view, it is irrelevant whether the CAO approved these meals or accepted them as City business. The descriptions on the form signed by the CAO (for example, “lunch meeting”) did not fairly represent the activity. At any rate, dining of family members is not City business, and the Mayor knew or should have known this, regardless of what the CAO might have said or signed.
- I accept the possibility of a situation in which official City business might include paying for a spouse to attend an event, but that situation does not describe this category. Here, the only participants in the meals were the Mayor and his relatives.
- The Mayor has reimbursed the City all expenses in this category.
- I conclude that using City funds to purchase meals with family members, and then identifying them as City business, contravened Article XII.”
Everything else can be debated and rationalized, including his way of “borrowing” city money against the mileage and car allowance to come. It’s all sloppy and sullies the reputation of everyone and the city. But Chirico’s quote that he “did nothing wrong” wilts under the false meal expense breach.
As for a punishment that fits the breaches, I can’t see how council can do anything less than docking Chirico’s pay for 90 days. With a salary of approximately $85,000, a three-month suspension would cover most of the Integrity Commissioner’s fees. There is some level of justice there.
If I had my druthers, however, I’d ask the Mayor to offer up his own punishment. It would be interesting to see how he would handle it.
What do you think? Email [email protected]
Writer, photographer and proud father. My mom's family is from the Soo with its Algoma Highlands, dad hailed from Cobden in the Ottawa Valley and I spent my teen years in Capreol. Summers were at the beach on the Vermillion River and winters at 'The Rink.' Born in East York but Toronto never was my thing. Ever since a kid looking out the window on long trips, I imagined living on the highway in a little house with a big yard and trees growing all around me.
