A heated debate dating back to September involving a Brampton councillor’s use of a consultant as an additional staffer has come to an end after council voted to close a loophole in its office staffing model.

At its Nov. 20 committee meeting, councillors voted to stop paying any invoices submitted by all councillors for consulting services as of that date, after Wards 7 and 8 Coun. Charmaine Williams charged taxpayers for consulting services by her former campaign manager, Rob Davis, for duties and services traditionally performed by vetted city employees.

Multiple requests to Williams’ office for an interview or comment were not answered by the time of this publication.

Due to potential legal concerns, council agreed to pay several invoices totalling approximately $21,000 submitted before Nov. 20 for services already rendered.

Fellow Wards 7 and 8 Coun. Pat Fortini, who shares an office with Williams and first raised his concerns at a Sept. 16 governance and council operations meeting, said there was no description of the consulting work performed included on the invoices submitted.

In addition to those transparency and accountability concerns, he also raised possible security issues surrounding access to sensitive materials at city hall normally only accessible by staff.

“How does the city pay a guy, Rob Davis, with his name on an invoice with just a social insurance number?” asked Fortini. “She hired him through a loophole as a consultant, and (he) uses her office, drinks our coffee, comes in there and has access to computers and data and emails from residents, which he didn’t swear under oath (to protect).”

Following a review of the situation, council directed staff to report back early next year with a new consulting model similar to the City of Toronto’s rules for councillors’ use of consultants. It only allows consultants to be contracted if existing city staff lacks the required expertise. Toronto also requires a consultant to have been officially registered as a business for at least five years.

In January 2019, Brampton implemented a new political staffing model increasing councillors’ support staff from one to two assistants at a cost of $1,040,988. According to Wards 3 and 4 Coun. Martin Medeiros, the model also included a budget for consultants. However, that budget was never intended to be used for additional staff.

“Technically, did she do something wrong? No,” he said. “(But she) decided to go against the spirit and intent of the political model … to try to pull a fast one and get that third person in instead of using what their allocation was.”