The union representing London police officers is calling on Mayor Matt Brown to resign from the Police Services Board.
In a post on its Facebook page, the London Police Association says Brown has misled “the board, city council (unless this was disclosed in camera) and the citizens of London.”
Brown is facing questions about why a tentative budget compromise reached in February wasn’t forward to the rest of city council. Some of those questions may be answered by a probe the board agreed to do at its meeting last Thursday.
"Back in February [Brown] was fairly adamant he knew nothing of this budget compromise. He hadn't seen it, he wasn't aware of it, he didn't know of the details. Then on Thursday he states that he was aware of the budget compromise," said Rick Robson, executive director of the London Police Association.
Robson stresses Brown has a responsibility to act as a representative of the Police Services Board when he sits at their table.
"Now we have some strong concerns of his conflict and whether he is taking that role seriously and advocating for members of the police service. The information is he may have been the one responsible for this compromise not reaching city council," said Robson.
Police Services Board Chair Paul Paolatto, who announced at the meeting that he would be stepping down at the end of his term, told the London Free Press that the tentative deal would have cost taxpayers more than $1-million less than the deal that was reached last week. That deal avoided a hearing before the Ontario Civilian Police Commission. Paolatto says the preparation for that hearing cost the Board approximately $70,000 in legal fees. Full statement from London Police Association Facebook page:
"The Mayor should immediately resign from the Police Services Board. He has mislead the Board, city council (unless this was disclosed in camera) and the citizens of London. First he said he knew of no deal. At Thursday's Board meeting he admits that he knew about the deal in February but would not "champion" it. I would appreciate any transcript that shows the PSB requesting he champion the deal he apparently did not even see in February. He also indicated that the PSB did not follow the proper process to get the proposed February settlement in front of council. So a member of the PSB and the head of council, is aware that the PSB is making a procedural error (which they weren't) but gives no advice to the other members of the PSB on how to overcome a procedural error? The majority of the PSB were in favour of this proposal so he would have been complicit in allowing the deal to fail. In my opinion that means an abdication of his responsibility to the PSB resulting in delay, cost and an erosion of trust and the relationship. This also leads me to question Councillor Turner's knowledge of this proposal or the alleged error in process the PSB was committing. Mayor Brown will you resign from the PSB?"