The Town of Mattawa remains equipped to handle any alleged conflict of interests or breaches of conduct, as they extend their contract with their current integrity commissioner (IC).
The decision to extend the contract with Expertise for Municipalities—also known as E4m—was made during their July 26 council meeting.
Since March of 2019 E4m has served as the town’s IC, although that first term ended this past winter, on February 28.
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The Municipal Act mandates all Ontario municipalities have an IC contracted, as all alleged breaches of the town’s code of conduct must be investigated by the IC’s office after a formal complaint is registered, and the complaint is deemed worthy of further inquiry by the IC.
Furthermore, alleged conflicts of interest also fall under the IC’s purview.
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Mattawa’s municipal staff did look into other options before deciding on renewing the contract until February 28, 2023 but could not find another IC that could match the $100 hourly rate charged by E4m.
E4m is a non-profit corporation operated by a board of directors. Since launching in July 2017, over 100 municipalities throughout the province have accessed services provided by E4m.
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David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
