When Neal McNamara has something to get off of his chest, he really unloads.
When we last saw the former military policeman turned business student and entrepreneur, he was presenting his findings on debt levels of the City of North Bay. Tuesday, at City Hall, he set his sights on unreported conflicts of interest by city councillors, specifically pertaining to the downtown/waterfront plans.
Click here for McNamara's opinion piece: Waterfront Plan has Millions in 'Unknown' costs
"There are at least five councillors with conflicts here," announced McNamara, before going on to name Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette and Councillors Jeff Serran, Chris Mayne and George Maroosis.
As Forgette pointed out, his business is located on Algonquin Avenue, but Serran heads the Downtown Improvement Area and both Maroosis and Mayne operate businesses on Main Street.
McNamara acknowledged that Coun. Daryl Vaillancourt had declared a conflict in the past when waterfront matters came before Council, as he owns a business in the area, but had not done so when an environmental assessment was ordered relating to King's Landing and the wharf.
McNamara continued, now addressing Mayor Al McDonald, "I haven't discovered any conflicts for you, however, I have come across some information that I think is worth noting for the public. I understand, sir, that you own property up on top of College Drive, which just saw a multi-million dollar project approved to build a water standpipe. I also understand that you also own property on Seymour Street next to the [former] Quints Museum[...]and it is anticipated there will be a multi-million dollar investment in that area.
"You did declare conflicts for these two properties, but that got me thinking, you just happen to own two properties that are being affected by multi-million dollar public and private investments, and you stand to financially benefit, sir. It got me wondering if you had any other properties or investments around North Bay that have not been publicly made known?"
McNamara also questioned the optics of the Mayor's brother's company being awarded contracts by the City.
The Mayor said Wednesday, in response to McNamara's charges, "I do not have any shares or ownership in my brother’s business as suggested by the presenter. I have declared a conflict at council on any related matters considering his company, despite the fact that conflict of interest does not pertain to siblings under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act."
Serran said afterwards that he believed he had declared a conflict of interest for the areas that McNamara had questioned.
Mayne disputed McNamara's claim during the question period following the presentation and in an interview at the conclusion of the meeting. Mayne explained that he is the co-director of Mayne Travel and does not own the building where their office is located.
"Councillors self-declare a conflict of interest. If you have an immediate pecuniary or financial interest in an issue, you declare a conflict," said Mayne. "So, whenever we are voting on an issue, it is something that we give thought to.
"In a previous term, I did actually seek legal advice on another issue that I was accused of having a conflict of interest on. The issue becomes, how immediate is the financial benefit to your business or your property? At some level, every decision we make as councillors impacts our tax assessment, our tax bill, so to some broad extent every decision we make could be considered a conflict of interest.
"In regard to the waterfront specifically, my position right now is I'm open to comment from others, but I don't feel my business benefits from moving the wharf from one location to the other, or as another example, maintaining the museum or other parts of the Community Waterfront Park. I don't see that as something that draws people specifically to my business."
Mayne says he has declared a conflict on matters involving the downtown business core, most recently pertaining to the parking garage (where his clients might park), but does not see how the waterfront development would have such an immediate impact on his business.
"As part of the broader waterfront/downtown plan, if there is a specific proposal, for instance, to change the direction of traffic on Oak Street, that would directly benefit my business, then I would declare a conflict on that portion," concluded Mayne.
