Some flyers created a fracas at the Niagara Region's Corporate Services Committee today.
During the 'other business' portion of the meeting, St.Catharines Councillor Brian Heit took issue with some flyers that have been circulated in three municipalities by elected officials touting their accomplishments.
The flyers were paid for by taxpayers and Heit asked CAO Carmen D'Angelo for a staff report on who at the Region authorized them.
D'Angelo called it a code of conduct issue and something an integrity commissioner would investigate.
Heit said he was asking for specific information about authorization and cost and said he'd make a determination whether to file an official complaint once staff provided the information.
Fort Erie's Sandy Annunziata, Grimbsy's Tony Quirk and Port Colborne's Dave Barrick all recently issued flyers.
Flyer sent out by Sandy Annunziata
Flyer send out by Grimsby's Tony Quirk
Barrick's distribution was under more scrutiny as he compared the Region's accomplishments to those of Port Colborne, to which the local council took exception for the negative connotations.
The Region does have a corporate resource policy that states no person, including staff, candidate or registered third party may print or distribute election campaign materials using regional funds.
However, they define campaign materials as those that promote or oppose the candidacy of a person for elected office.
Both Annunziata and Barrick have yet to file papers for re-election.
Quirk is a registered candidate for Grimsby.
CKTB has reached out to Barrick to comment further on the issue.