Peel police have cleared City of Brampton staff of wrongdoing following a criminal investigation into a bonus program that paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-union employees.

At issue was whether the money was approved by council or in fact city staff had unlawfully handed out the money without council’s knowledge.

The police report presented to Brampton councillors at a committee of council meeting on Wednesday by Fiona Peacefull, the city’s head of human resources, found that council approved the payouts. The investigation cleared both current and former staff.

But the findings in the police report were challenged by one councillor who said it contradicted a June internal audit report.

“I’m surprised that they’re saying now that this program was approved by council when we were told initially by staff that it wasn’t,” said Peel Regional Councillor John Sprovieri. The audit indicated $1.25 million was paid out in discretionary salary increases without council's knowledge to 167 non-union city employees between Jan. 1, 2009, and May 14, 2014, he said. The police report said the actual amount paid out was $614,155.99.

After the audit report’s release in June, councillors and Brampton taxpayers expressed outrage over the bonus scheme. City council voted unanimously for a police investigation into possible criminality.

But Peel police determined the bonus payments did not break any laws. Despite councillors publicly stating they had no knowledge of the payment scheme, police said the expenditures were approved through the annual budget process that council signs off on.

“I find it very strange,” Sprovieri said during Wednesday’s meeting, while asking how council members could have approved the payments when the budgets did not include any specific mention of the bonus payments.

Peacefull said that the police investigation found Brampton councillors delegated to senior staffers the authority to make such payments in 2002. That meant staff could use public funds for such bonuses without council approval. Legislation guarantees that public funds generally cannot be used without council approval.

Sprovieri questioned why these details about the delegated authority and tacit approval through the budget process were not identified in the initial audit findings by staff. He also wanted to know how such explanations could justify excusing a process that paid out for years without being a line item in the budget and without council’s knowledge.

“I certainly don’t remember ever dealing with an issue where council granted delegated authority to staff. The evidence is not provided in this report that says this program was approved by council,” he said.

Peacefull said the salary payout system “points to a systemic issue with the program, not illegal activity.”

Peel police did not interview any councillors for the investigation.

Leading up to the June vote for a police investigation, some councillors argued Peel Regional Police would be under pressure to relinquish control of the investigation to an outside force because some Brampton politicians are involved in approving the police budget through regional council.

“From an optics point of view, the maxim ‘Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done’ is a substantial concern in this matter,” Wesley Jackson, a local lawyer and city hall watcher, said Wednesday. “The Peel Regional Police ought to have considered handing this off to the OPP on that basis alone.”

Peel police Chief Jennifer Evans said there is no issue with conflict.

“Part of my role as chief of police is to sit on many different boards and committees within our community and that does not automatically create a conflict. Upon receipt of the complaint, I assigned an independent and experienced fraud investigator to conduct the investigation. Peel Regional Police conducted a thorough and impartial investigation which determined there was no criminal wrongdoing. I am confident in that.”

Police said the program, called Outside Policy Requests (OPR) was “used for legitimate reasons to reward employees either entitled to or deemed to be deserving of a salary increase.”

Fraud investigators found that the actual amount of salary expenditures paid to 167 employees over the identified period was $614,155.99, not the $1.25 million initially identified by internal audit staff in June. According to the initial audit report, payments to individual staff ranged from as little as $123 to more than $95,000. The June report identified a total of $316,000 was paid to just eight employees.

The auditors noted a sudden drop in OPRs after 2014, the year of the last municipal election.

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Regional Councillor Martin Medeiros, who tabled the original motion requesting an “external investigation” into whether “this program contravened the Municipal Act” or if there was any illegal activity, said the police probe raises more questions and called the entire process a “waste of resources.”

“This report raises more questions for me, especially since it was able to operate for such a long period, and nobody, including staff and members of previous councils, were able to tell us that this was approved from council all along. This to me is very concerning,” Medeiros said.

Brampton councillors voted unanimously in June to ask that police undertake an investigation to uncover everything behind the fund, including who approved it and who received the payments.

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