The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has significant operational issues to address in order to restore public trust.
That's the summary of the long awaited Auditor General's report.
Bonnie Lysyk says her audit found the NPCA Board’s oversight were two of the key contributors to the operational problems at the NPCA that have been the subject of public concerns and criticisms.
The Report noted that some NPCA Board members (a majority of whom are elected officials, such as mayors and councillors) involved themselves in the day-to-day operations of the NPCA.
It states that their involvement was not always perceived as positive by employees of the NPCA and the public.
The report found some major issues including that administrative spending rose almost 50% between 2012 and 2017, while spending on watershed services dropped 18% over the same period.
It also found that the NPCA does not consistently track or respond to complaints about potential violations
One-quarter of the complaints the AG reviewed about possible Act violations between 2013 and 2017 were still open, which poses a problem since the NPCA has only two years under the Act to take legal action if necessary.
When commenting on a controversial development in Niagara Falls, the AG report says the NPCA did not study the Thundering Water site’s ecosystem to determine if it contained
unique features.
According to the AG report, in more than half of the $3.8 million in purchases between 2013 and 2017, the NPCA did not adhere to its own policies for the competitive acquisition of goods and services.
The NPCA has commented on the report and says that while the NPCA is not perfect, it is operationally trending in the right direction.
Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk will join CKTB's Larry Fedoruk today at 5:15pm.