Criminal Activity At Windsor Library

Surprise, surprise. The so-called, previously "confidential" report by KPMG on the Library was provided to me on Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend and also released on the City's website. Or rather we got the "public" Powerpoint version, not the actual Report.

If it had been released earlier in the week, then someone might actually have had the time to read it. So one of the oldest political tricks in the book was played---release an embarrassing document when hopefully no one will have the time to read it before the Council meeting on Tuesday and when the media will not report it since they take vacations too.

When games are played, it is obvious that there is a need for a detailed review of the Report. Given what was said in the Powerpoint, as I shall describe below, I can understand why the Mayor and Council would be embarrassed to release it. It makes Council look ridiculous.

Yes it was criminal all right.

It was criminal that so much money was wasted on a KPMG report

It was criminal that we had these allegations of possible fraud, theft and impropriety that were not even discussed by KPMG, presumably because they did not exist

It was criminal that there was so much confusion between Council and the Library with no one being able to state what the problems were and not all of it due to the Library

It is criminal that we had the "witch-hunt."

It is criminal that citizens will not want to take a Board positions on City Committees after what Library Board members were put through over the past year or so.

AND IT IS CRIMINAL THAT COUNCIL TRIED TO KEEP THE KPMG REPORT CONFIDENTIAL.

The excuse given to me that the entire report should be kept confidential because "there are personnel matter references contained in that report" is now revealed as a sham since KPMG stated:

• "The report was presented to a joint in-camera meeting of City Council, the WPL Library Board and the City of Windsor Audit Committee. Recommendations addressing personnel matters were discussed and have been provided in a confidential report."

The non-personnel material could have been disclosed easily as has now been demonstrated without all of this confidentiality BS.

I think I may know why there was a desire to keep the report away from citizens. It is not always the Library that is at fault. The finger can be pointed at Council's shortcomings. Here are some of the KPMG conclusions reached:

• Detailed business case demonstrating the advantages of integrating the WPL into the City administrative structure has yet to be developed.
• Formal integration opportunities are limited and still require documented business cases
• The issue of formal integration be set aside; however continue to work in a collaborative manner on areas of mutual benefit
• WPL Mission and Vision appears appropriate and is consistent with those of other public libraries we reviewed but it is not clear as to the degree by which the above mission and vision have been discussed or debated by the WPL Board, or presented to, discussed and debated and agreed to by Council.
• WPL appears to be in compliance with S.24 of the Public Librairies Act which outlines a number of budget requirements
• It is not clear as to the degree of understanding of and/or agreement on the roles and responsibilities of the Library Board in relation to Council, as defined by the PLA, nor the degree of understanding or agreement on what is trying to be achieved by the organization, nor the ground rules for working together
• There is a tension between the two competing goals of the City and Library
• It is not clear to the Library as to the nature of the specific operational or governance process issues that City has
• WPL Board has only limited input into the budget process, and appears not to be in the position of approving or recommending the budget to the City OperatingBudget Committee
• Our review suggests that issues from 2003 and 2004 have been appropriately addressed.
• Respecting 3 outstanding issues from 2005 letter, the WPL Audit Committee is continuing to work through these
• Improvements have been made but there is still a way to go on reporting of non-routine transactions.
• Senior management staffing has been constrained by financial resources but is
  is very lean with little time or money available for training or professional development.
• Staff morale is being adversely impacted by uncertainty on direction and nature of Board/Council relationship
• IT Work plan appears appropriate for WPL’s situation; would be hard for City to support directly since WPL’s IT demands are very different from those of the City.
• Opportunities for City to learn from WPL applications to support customer needs
• A review of WPL’s purchasing policy indicates that the fundamentals of an appropriate purchasing policy/process are in place and appear to be followed.
• WPL has received a number of awards many relating to WPL’s use of technology
• Customer satisfaction survey results are very positive
• A collaborative approach would be useful to pursue opportunities for the two organizations to work closer together and to learn from each other in the delivery of services that meet the needs of customers.
• Governance model can be improved however it is an effective model
• Board has been consumed with a number of operational and financial issues since it was appointed and circumstances have prevented review/assessment of strategic objectives and identification of particular needs of the community.

I still do not understand what the issue was repecting the Library other than a power play by some on Council to control it totally. As Councillor Budget had said in the past "I believe the library should become a department of the city because we fund it to the tune of about $8 million, which is 90 per cent of its budget." The KPMG Report demonstrates that Council would have made a mess out of the Library sytem if what Councillor Budget had advocated had happened. There was and is no need for that nor was there a need to retain KPMG and waste taxpayer money.

I have nothing but contempt for a City Government that was elected on an "open and transparent" platform that is trying so hard to keeep information out of the hands of its citizens. That is the real crime that came out of the Windsor Library fiasco.