There’s no limit to how much city council members can incur in cellphone expenses on their city-issued cellphones.
Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée flagged this as a point of concern during this week’s city council meeting.
During the meeting, a report by integrity commissioner David Boghosian was tabled which cited the cellphone issue as something the city’s elected officials might consider looking at.
Boghosian’s report centred on a complaint against Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc for incurring a cellular phone charge of $1,613, which was 30 per cent of city council’s total expenditure that year of $5,440.
His report concluded that Leduc had not breached the city’s Code of Conduct.
Leduc responded to Boghosian’s report by tabling a motion calling for Boghosian to be fired, which Leduc rescinded during this week’s meeting.
At this week’s meeting, city council also heard that the city’s employment expenses were being reviewed this week, at which time Labbée might, through a future motion, launch a review of the bylaw surrounding councillor expenses.
Labbée also raised the issue of Leduc’s winters spent in Florida during the May 14 city council meeting, which came days before Boghosian’s report on Leduc’s cellphone expenses was made public. The relevance of Leduc’s travels was unclear given the context of the May 14 meeting, and it was one of a few times the two city council members butted heads that night.
This isn’t the first time city council members’ expenses have been flagged as potential points of concern, with then-Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini’s disproportionately large mileage claims coming up in response to both 2021 and 2022 year-end claim reports.