Article content continued

Photo by Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen

Brockington was elected last fall to succeed McRae, who retired after 11 years at city hall. He says it could take several years to build the account back up to a level that it could be used to address community needs.

“I have no issue with the needs that were being addressed, but many people have noted that a lot of money was spent in 2014,” Brockington said.

“It would have been nice to have had a little pot of money left.”

Photo by Matthew Pearson / Ottawa Citizen

Brockington said he has not been given an itemized list from city staff yet to show what the money was spent on and what projects are set to be completed this year.

But, sometime after he was sworn in on Dec. 1, he did receive an email from a senior city official advising him of a purchase request McRae made in the final week of November for benches and plaques (McRae’s term expired Nov. 30).

Brockington says he told staff that whatever McRae requested during her term in office should be respected.

“Those were monies raised during her term of office … she had every right to divert those funds to the projects she identified, so who am I to overrule that?” he said, adding the need for more benches along some pathways in the ward was an issue raised during last fall’s campaign.

All of the spending in River ward in 2014 fell within the cash-in-lieu of parkland program guidelines, the city says.

McRae did not respond to numerous calls for comment.

The cash-in-lieu money comes from property developers: when they build something new, they have to hand over either land for parks for the new residents to whom they’re selling homes, or cash for the city to use on parks instead.