I’ve been following your city’s elections, as a former employee with the City of Brampton, is seeking to be your mayor. I recently read a letter of support for Jamie Lowery from one of Brampton’s former mayor’s and I feel it’s important address statements contained in her letter that are not supported by facts.
As a former councillor, and as the Chair of the Audit Committee, I was directly familiar with the audit that is referred to in her letter.
Lowery did not initiate the audit. It was part of an approved annual work plan carried out by the city’s Internal Audit Department which lead to the audit report that revealed a shopping list of issues and procedural deficiencies at the Rose Theatre. A total of 97 issues were found in terms of the operation of the theatre.
The former mayor stated “Factually, Jamie tackled the issue and restored the Rose Theatre financial performance in one year”.
In actuality over a two year period, despite Lowery stating that he addressed all but three of the issues, the follow up audit report presented to the Audit Committee stated that 38 recommendations and issues remained unresolved.
I fail to grasp the thought process behind having an endorsement from former Mayor Susan Fennell, who when running for her fifth term garnered a mere 12.54 per cent of the vote due to scandals fuelled by the findings of a forensic audit which unearthed what Brampton taxpayers viewed as a breach of trust; and who earned the distinction of having her own chapter in Philip Slayton’s book “Mayors Gone Bad” written in 2015.
Its true that I have my own personal feelings about Lowery, and it would serve no purpose to elaborate from this perspective, but it is relevant for me to offer that from someone who had to work with him and having experience in dealing with him, I would be very cautious in giving him the power of the mayor’s office.
Elaine Moore
Former Councillor City of Brampton