Pelham's Mayor says it's a surprise that a local developer is willing to front the $50,000 cost of an audit looking into the town's finances.
Yesterday a Niagara-on-The-Lake land developer, Rainer Hummel, told Niagara Region Council's Audit Committee that he was willing to foot the cost for an audit, pulling a cheque out from his jacket.
Hummel believes the town severely overpaid for parkland in the East Fonthill development.
Pelham's Mayor Dave Augustyn says he is surprised that Hummel decided to bring this issue before regional council's audit committee instead of attending a Pelham Town Council meeting.
Augustyn says the town has already addressed concerns from the community.
"We had an evening with the experts where we answered any and all questions from the residents of Pelham and taxpayers. We had staff come through and go through Mr. Hummel's presentation and answer all the questions line by line by line of the 28 claims that were there."
Augustyn says he'd rather sit down and have a conversation instead of bringing in an auditor.
"Well, as I said yesterday to Mr. Hummel - let's sit down and I think in 5 minutes I can clear this up for you because I have all the documents. He said, 'Oh no, I think it will take longer than that and we should do the audit.'"
Augustyn went on to say town council will need to consider the offer before making a decision.
Last night the region's audit committee endorsed Hummel's offer and requested the town allow the audit - however Pelham's solicitor Callum Shedden pointed out a formal order would be outside the region's jurisdiction.