The Fish Always Stinks At The Head

And the city auditor should remember this when he is looking at malfeasance.....if 250 senior city managers have to attend a taxpayer funded seminar on ethical behaviour we have a real problem.

City needs ethics guide, auditor says
Despite MFP leasing scandal, some civil servants still don't get it
April 06, 2007
John Spears
CITY HALL BUREAU

Some Toronto civil servants still don't get it about ethics, says Auditor General Jeff Griffiths.

So he's calling for a "formal, ongoing ethics education program" to make all city staff more aware of how to fight fraud and avoid conflict of interest.

The message should have filtered down after the city spent $20 million on an inquiry by Justice Denise Bellamy into scandalous behaviour at city hall, particularly as to how a computer leasing contract with MFP Financial Services was allowed to more than double in cost without proper approval.

Bellamy laid bare a web of unethical behaviour, conflict of interest and cronyism at senior levels that received huge attention. "I'm surprised there are some people – in spite of MFP, in spite of Bellamy – who still have difficulty comprehending what a conflict is," Griffiths said in an interview, following the release this week of his annual report on the city's fraud and waste hotline.

The city is sending 250 senior managers to an ethics awareness course in June, he said, but the message needs to go beyond the top ranks. He suggests setting up an Internet site where city employees can find a quick guide to what constitutes improper or illegal behaviour.

Some misdeeds that came to light through the city's fraud and waste hotline were more than simple conflict of interest. For example:

# Toronto Water was tipped to surprisingly low meter readings at several apartment buildings. When an investigation began, "water consumption levels increased dramatically." The city recovered $325,000.

# A mysterious corporate credit card was found, whose "controls ... were almost nonexistent, with access and use of the credit card being available to any number of staff." The card was cancelled, but items worth $600 charged to the card vanished.

The hotline logged 503 complaints last year, down from 577 in 2005. Of those, 49 were substantiated at least in part; 53 found to be groundless and 330 were deemed to be issues properly handled by regular managers – such as complaints garbage wasn't picked up. The rest are under review.

Griffiths said he doesn't draw any conclusions from the reduction, saying that, from his perspective, the hotline's usefulness is mainly as a deterrent. He wants city staff to know that if he finds evidence of criminal behaviour, it will go to the police.

His report also acknowledges the problems are sometimes closer to home. One "substantiated complaint" was in the auditor-general's office – an employee viewing "inappropriate' Internet sites at work.

Griffiths informed the chair of the audit committee of this transgression and applied the city's policy on Internet misuse: "There was a disciplinary letter placed on his file, and he won't be doing it again, I can tell you."