CBC reports,Three officials from the Town of Amherstburg, including its former chief administrative officer (CAO), were officially dismissed, according to the mayor.
As of Thursday, former CAO John Miceli, director of planning and development service Nicole Rubuli, and director of corporate services Cheryl Horrobin were no longer employed by the southwestern Ontario town, according to Mayor Aldo DiCarlo.
In The Windsor Star article, Judge in Angela Berry fraud trial threatens to issue arrest warrant for Amherstburg CAO Miceli, Berry’s lawyer, Linda McCurdy, referenced a post from Miceli’s Facebook page that showed him and six other men piled into a vehicle under the caption, “On a road trip with my boys.”
The Windsor Star has since reported on Miceli’s July 9 court appearance with his lawyer, Andrew Bradie, and the explanation that he was busy with town business.
“When Mr. Miceli saw the article in the Windsor Star, he was concerned for the bad publicity which he received, and for the fact that the continuation of the trial date had been set in direct conflict with a pre-paid vacation that he had scheduled with his family.”
Given Miceli was concerned about negative publicity, did he take whatever action he could to avoid it? Did he prioritize his court appearance by arranging his schedule so there was no conflict with town business? Was he unable to delegate the town business to other town staff? Did he notify the Crown Attorney of his inability to attend court as per the subpoena?
The Lack Of Transparency Part 1 – Police Advisor has been updated to reflect the fact that in addition to Midland, The Town Of Hanover And Municipality Of West Grey Also Issued A Request For Proposal – Study And Analysis Of The Feasibility Of The Amalgamation Of The Hanover And West Grey Police Services.
Michael Mitchell of MPM Consulting was the successful respondent and undertook the project beginning on March 21, 2016.
Ratepayers expect promises of accountability and transparency to be fulfilled. A series of posts will examine the lack of transparency when this council was to examine and compare policing costs.
A committee was established to review all the options and naturally, one would expect such committee members to possess the necessary expertise to advise council.
CAO Miceli initially informed Council the Joint Police Advisory Committee (JPAC) should be formed as a first step to ensure an open and transparent process for the review of policing options. Mayor DiCarlo stated, “we realized we need to get the committee in place and look at all the options.”
CAO Miceli’s recommendation to form a committee was based on the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) ‘A Process Guidebook for the Review of Policing Options 2012′ he relied on.
If the committee requested assistance, Ministry Police Advisors were referred to and their role was explained in the Guidebook on page 6:
During any consideration of policing options, the initial responsibility of the advisor is to outline for the Board and Council their options and responsibilities under the Act and the potential implications of each. During a review of Policing Options, the advisor is available upon request to provide information and advice to participants in the process. Their advice is based on the legislation contained in the PSA, its regulations, and Ministry guidelines, as well as best practices that arise from other similar restructuring experiences.
Miceli would not confirm if any Ministry Advisors were involved in the police costing process here in Amherstburg.
Mike Mitchell, MPM Consulting, attended the inaugural July 2016 JPAC meeting wherein policing options were discussed: the OPP, Windsor and LaSalle.
MPM Consulting was to provide its proposal for consulting services through Miceli; Mitchell’s July 2016 Proposal was received at the January 16, 2017 JPAC meeting.
Council received Miceli’s report an the JPAC recommendation and agreed to hire MPM Consulting at its January 23, 2017 meeting.
The Town of Midland issued an RFP FOR THE PROVISION OF THE STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF POLICING SERVICES – MIDLAND POLICE SERVICE AND OPP.
The OPP commenced policing of Midland on February 8, 2018.
Edited: The Town Of Hanover And Municipality Of West Grey Also Issued A Request For Proposal – Study And Analysis Of The Feasibility Of The Amalgamation Of The Hanover And West Grey Police Services.
Michael Mitchell of MPM Consulting was the successful respondent and undertook the project beginning on March 21, 2016.
The Windsor Star reported, Judge in Angela Berry fraud trial threatens to issue arrest warrant for Amherstburg CAO Miceli.
“I have information that Mr. Miceli may be out of town on vacation,” Berry’s lawyer, Linda McCurdy, told the court. McCurdy was referencing a post from Miceli’s Facebook page that showed him and six other men piled into a vehicle under the caption, “On a road trip with my boys.”
Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas was not amused.
“I find it unfortunate that Mr. Miceli would take the steps of leaving the jurisdiction for a vacation knowing that he was under subpoena,” Thomas said, aggrieved at how Miceli “may have prioritized things in his own mind.”
Commentary by Linda Saxon
In response to Glenn Swinton’s letter to the editor, River Town Times.
Glenn Swinton asked some sensible questions; however I wonder if one might not have been posed had the facts been known.
Mr. Swinton asked, “why are we now ‘negotiating’ the RFP with Windsor and not trying to accommodate or meet service levels from the other services that didn’t want to meet the RFP in the first place?”
The then-newly formed Joint Police Advisory Committee determined in July 2016 the OPP costing process was not feasible and the Municipality should drive the process to include bids.
While some municipalities issue RFPs for consultants and establish costing committees to compare all policing options, Amherstburg devised a Joint Police Advisory Committee (JPAC) to ‘guide the development for a Request For Proposal (RFP) and hired a consultant to assist the committee.
It wasn’t that the OPP opted out; the OPP were ready to commence the costing proposal process for Amherstburg in June 2017 following the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services approved OPP costing process.
The OPP requested dates to schedule a meet and greet and asked CAO John Miceli to forward the Municipal Police Service Profile form to Chief Berthiaume or his designate for completion and return within four weeks; this would have been step three of the process.
The RFP was issued in July 2017. Everyone involved ought to have known an RFP for services was a different process than the Ministry-approved OPP costing process implemented around the province.
The JPAC received the OPP Information Manual for the OPP Contract Proposal Process detailing the steps to be followed. And, even though the committee used guidelines for the review of policing options from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, the OPP process was also detailed in it.
The committee also discussed public consultation prior to the RFP even being developed and ratepayers should have had the opportunity to express the level of policing service they expect.
Instead, the public’s choice was limited to maintaining the status quo or selecting Windsor Police Service without knowing if there were better alternatives, despite elected officials’ promises to explore all cost saving options.
the burg watch 