Keep it public

It’s good to see councillors stick to their word.

It has recently become apparent that staff at the City of Oshawa don’t want to continue with the trouble of putting together the monthly cheque register and corporate payments list, opting to only make parts of it available to the mayor and councillors, citing the city can run into legal trouble by making certain cheques public information.

It’s odd that this hasn’t come up previously, as this report has been prepared by the city for decades now. It’s also odd the city has never thought of finding a way to identify those cheques that, perhaps, should remain confidential for legal reasons.

The idea originated in a report from Tony Tollis, the interim finance director who was employed with the city for a brief period prior to budget time.

The original report appeared before the finance committee in December. Councillor Nancy Diamond slammed the idea of making private information that was once public.

“It is absolutely critical that information be available to the public,” she said at the time.

Councillors tossed the report, telling staff to come back with options for finding a balance between transparency and protecting themselves legally.

It would appear that staff did not listen.

The recommendation that appeared before the committee last week was eerily similar to the one that appeared in December.

Councillors were, understandably, not pleased.

Diamond reiterated her thoughts that keeping this information public is “critical”.

Councillor Dan Carter also said it is essential that the public be “fully engaged in what we do.”

This is a step in the right direction

The information in these reports, as Diamond clearly pointed out, is essential to the public.

Allowing citizens to track how money is spent and ask questions on particular payments is a service city hall must provide if it wants to keep an image of honesty and public service in the community.

The report has once again gone back to staff with council’s recommendation to find a way to flag those cheques that could possibly cause legal troubles.

It’s clear council is not interested in hiding this information. Let’s hope staff at city hall got the message this time.