Brampton council recently approved up to $150,000 in funding for Neighbourhood Watch Brampton, which also includes a “media partnership” with local news outlet Brampton Focus.

Brampton council voted to fund both Neighbourhood Watch and Brampton Focus — organizations operated by the same people — for a pilot period of six months at its regular meeting on July 10.

Two sitting councillors — rookie Ward 1 and Ward 5 representatives Paul Vicente and Rowena Santos — both were formerly volunteer directors of the not-for-profit media outlet.

“Brampton Focus was created, by locals who volunteer their time, and self-finance a broadcast media facility. This autonomy is very important in this day of ‘nudge nudge wink wink’ media and politics, particularly in a community that had no real voice,” wrote former Brampton Focus host and contributor Michael A. Charbon in an op-ed in May 2017.

Mayor Patrick Brown told council that discussions with Brampton Focus bosses Don McLeod and Fasal Khan had been ongoing for six months, or very shortly after Brampton’s new council was sworn-in last December. He added they had originally asked for $300,000 in funding.

McLeod and Khan have been behind the volunteer-run neighbourhood watch program and Brampton Focus for several years, but the organizations are separate entities.

“Brampton Focus is leading the way in community based media engagement through integrated Social, Web, Broadcast and Print solutions. We are on the front lines of change in the media industry and helping our communities and clients with innovative solutions to reach their audience,” reads the entirety of the “about us” section of the Brampton Focus website, making no mention of Neighbourhood Watch Brampton.

Questions sent to Brampton Focus were not answered by the time of this publication.

A recent staff report to council said Brampton Focus is Neighbourhood Watch Brampton’s “parent company.” The city is emphasizing the “community safety” aspect of the initiative as a staff report described the partnership with Brampton Focus as an opportunity to use the media outlet to “advance city messaging.”

The city's media relations office noted the council resolution instructed "Strategic Communications partner with Brampton Focus, where applicable, to provide video creation and content services, and ensure the outlet proactively receives the city’s communications to share across their social channels as a means to improve community safety."

Media relations added, the report does not express any preferred access for Brampton Focus. Rather, it outlines areas of collaboration that suit the city in extending the reach of municipal communications.

At council’s July 10 meeting, Khan and McLeod asked members of council if they could use the city-owned Rose Theatre free of charge for a federal election debate between candidates from across the Greater Toronto Area, with plans to promote the event far beyond Brampton’s borders through its new partnership.

Vicente was among the founding directors of Brampton Focus, which was launched by local politicos and failed candidates after the 2014 municipal election. Santos sat on the online broadcaster’s board of directors.

Neither Vicente nor Santos declared pecuniary interests before voting to give former colleagues and the media channel they worked with a significant amount of taxpayers money.

“Paul Vicente and Rowena Santos were volunteer members of the board of Brampton Focus until they officially resigned from their positions in December 2017. Neither received remuneration in their roles as volunteers for the organization,” said the pair in an official joint statement.

According to the city, the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act states that declarations of pecuniary interest are left up to individual members of a council.

“As mayor, I see no conflict. They are hard-working, passionate community activists that volunteered with a not-for-profit,” said Brown.

While still voting unanimously in favour of the partnership, some councillors did raise concerns.

Wards 7 and 8 Councillor Charmaine Williams raised concerns about sidestepping the city’s public request for proposal (RFP) process for contracts over $100,000.

“How do we know we’re getting the best value for money for taxpayers if we have no comparisons?” asked Williams.

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According to acting CAO Joe Pittari the city is allowed to skip the mandated RFP process “in very rare cases.”

He told council this qualified because it’s only a pilot project at council’s direction, which will be re-evaluated in six months when council will decide whether to continue the partnership and/or up the funding to Brampton Focus and Neighbourhood Watch Brampton.

Editor’s note — July 30, 2019: This article was updated to include the city's statements on how Brampton Focus would be used to communicate municipal messaging and no expressed preferred access for the media outlet.

Graeme Frisque is a reporter with The Mississauga News and Brampton Guardian. gfrisque@metroland.com

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