Despite two meetings to discuss the scathing real estate audit, city council still hasn’t really had a proper chance to grill staff about what really went on.

Fortunately, there’s a pretty easy way to see if your city councillor is truly concerned about straightening out city hall or not. If your councillor votes in favour of another specific meeting to discuss the scathing real estate audit, they pass the simple test. If they oppose another meeting to discuss the audit, they’re clueless, lazy or something worse. There’s really no other way to put it.

Here’s why another meeting to discuss the damning real estate audit is absolutely necessary. When the 189-page audit was released to councilors on July 2, auditors quickly briefed them on the contents behind closed doors. The audit covered over 30 real estate transactions so needless to say it was a lot to absorb in a short period of time.  

While city staff was in the room to help answer questions, councillors were in no position to truly understand everything that was in front of them and know which questions to ask.

One thing was clear though, the audit was damning. When asked how the findings compared with reports from other cities, national audit firm EY (formerly known as Ernst and Young) said the observations were “troubling.” Anyone who has read the news in Winnipeg over the past few years can understand why.

The second opportunity for councillors to ask staff about the audit was also anything but ideal. The opportunity came a week later at a special July 9 council meeting. The meeting began with councillors grilling external auditors for several hours to learn more about their findings. Following that, they had an opportunity to merely “clarify” contents of the audit with only the City of Winnipeg’s Acting CAO. The meeting rules didn’t permit broad-based questions to the CAO, and no other staff was allowed to help “clarify” the audit’s contents.

In other words, it wasn’t very productive.

When Councillor Havixbeck tried to ask a couple tough questions about what went on, Councillor Swandel repeatedly rose to rule her out of order. Answers were simply not forthcoming.

Thus, council still does not know which staff knew about the “troubling” transactions at the city over the past several years. They don’t know if staff tried to tell anyone. They also don’t know if there’s still information that hasn’t been made public yet. Anyone who has read the audit can think of several other worthy questions to ask.

What needs to happen is for council to meet once again with staff – either in the council chamber or behind closed doors. It should be a ‘no holds barred’ meeting that allows for a frank and open discussion without silly rules restricting questions to merely ‘clarifying.’

The real estate audit’s findings are not a trivial matter that should be cast aside like the silly council decision to ban singing on city busses. The situation at city hall is serious. Councillor Vandal, a respected council veteran, put it best when he said: “this council has lost the confidence of the citizens we serve.”

Soon we will see how many councillors are serious about gaining that confidence back.