Estrin/Schwartz Fees And Solicitor-Client Privilege

It is oh so typical of Mayor Francis. The man who was elected Mayor on a platform of open and transparent government is doing it again.

As you know, since August, 2005, Councillor Halberstadt has requested an itemization of David Estrin's billing for fees after receiving a brief summary of payments to him since he was retained in September 2003. He stated "We will be asking ourselves... 'where is the bill going and do we need to spend this money?'... It's getting to be a lot of money and council has to be held accountable." Councillor Ron Jones wanted a public meeting "to ask Windsor's ratepayers if further use of Estrin or his experts is merited."

Clearly it is an important matter especially because it is concerned with the border file.

In March, it was reported that "The city will disclose what it has spent on Toronto lawyer David Estrin and his consultants to fight its border battles." Naturally, as I have blogged, nothing came out for a long time so I started running a calendar showing the time it has taken for the City NOT to respond to what was promised way back then.

Well now we know the answer, sort of, but you have to know where to look to get it.

• Did we get the information in a press conference held by the Mayor? NO
• Was a press release issued from the Mayor's Office? NO
• Was it disclosed as an Item on the COUNCIL AGENDA INDEX so that people would be aware of it so that they could appear as a delegation? NO

Then how was it disclosed---as part of the Council Communications package for the May 29 Council meeting. There it is, buried in the middle, number 11 out of 17 items, ....a Report from the Legal Department starting on Page 27 of a 34 page Communications package. Interestingly though, it was already completed on May 4 but not disclosed until now!

If no Councillor asked a question about it at Council or if the media did not pick it up, then very few would even know that the answer was given!

As at May 4, 2006, the total amount spent on the border file and Interim Control By-law/OMB hearing is: $2,322,043.05 of which $609,148.82 was spent after August 9, 2005. (That amount will be higher since all the OMB hearing costs involving Estrin and an associate along with consultants testifying have probably NOT been included)

That $609K number is broken down as is the split between border file and OMB.

If you want more information than that, then you are not going to get it! SOLICITOR-CLIENT PRIVILEGE! We are scared off since we are told that there is a potential that the City's legal position, arguments and stratgies would be compromised.

Bollocks!

The OMB hearing is over and most of the border file has been done (and not more will happen until after the Municipal election since the City has no position and DRIC is on life-support). Moreover, the Privilege can be waived by the City. In fact, one can make the argument that it already has been waived by the detail given, as little as it is.

This is no answer and Eddie knows it. Who knows if the information given is even complete.

Council has to take the lead and demand a better breakdown. No one needs to know exactly what the fees are for (so that the City's legal position will not be compromised) but we should at least know who has been hired and by whom, how much was received and when. Only when this is provided can we then have a better feeling whether monies have been spent wisely or wasted.

In one of my BLOGS, I asked for the following information:

1. which law firms have been involved, including US law firms, Ottawa, Toronto and Windsor firms, not just the Gowlings firm
2. which "lobbyist," stratetgic and consulting firms have been used (and let us not play games with words describing their titles either)
3. which polling and survey firms have been used
4. which technical and engineering firms have been used and which transportation planners, air, health and noise experts, land use planners, government/media relations expert, social impact analyst and an environmental assessment expert
5. what costs have they charged us in a way that is meaningful so that we can see if we received value for money on a particular file or part thereof
6. which firms billed the City directly and which ones billed through our law firms or other parties
7. what work did they do for the fees incurred
8. we definitely need to see all disbursements including those paid out by the City for trips for the Mayor, Councillors and staff.
9. we need assurance that these are ALL fees and expenses to every City Department including the Mayor's office and through his budget through certification by the Mayor and the CAO.
10. it should cover ALL border work, not just under Francis but under Hurst as well including but not limited to the Tunnel plaza, Tunnel purchase/lease, Walker Road, the Huron Church overpass.

There is no doubt that the Mayor is very concerned about costs. I am sure that he always expected that the Senior Levels would pay all of these fees as part of the $300 million BIF monies. But that was when they listened to him After the Snub, I bet things changed. I am not so sure that the relationship between the City and the Senior Levels is so good that the amounts will be paid. Accordingly, the border fees and disbursements will come directly out of the City's accounts.

Let's see if any Councillor has the nerve to ask that the information I have requested be provided. I can always keep the calendar going on the BLOGSITE or maybe one has to go the Municipal Freedom of Information route.

So much for "Open and Transparent Government" from this Mayor!