St. Catharines council is also backing Pelham as the Region's audit committee looks to push ahead with an inquiry into the town's finances.
Following the lead of Port Colborne and Thorold, St. Catharines council voted last night to pass a motion strongly objecting to the Region's interference in Pelham's finances.
St. Catharines Standing Budget Committee Chair and City Councillor Mat Siscoe says it is interesting that Pelham is being specifically targeted.
"Every municipality, all of the cities and towns in Niagara have built large projects over the last 10 years; we built the Meridian Centre, we built the Youngs Sports Complex, all these different facilities across the region but Pelham is the only one who seems to be targeted right now and it doesn't make any sense to me."
Siscoe also said recent stories concerning the Region's finances caught his eye.
"I made the comment last night, given the news stories that are coming out of the region talking about the retirement package that came out yesterday, paying almost $900,000 for an employee to not come to work tomorrow, I find it kind of interesting that the municipalities are being told by the region, 'Well you need to spend your dollars more appropriately.'"
The saga of the Pelham's finances is expected to continue as the Region's audit committee plans to ask regional council to endorse a resolution requesting the Ontario Municipal Board conduct an inquiry into Pelham's debt and the construction of the community centre.
Yesterday the OMB's Communications Consultant Monica Patricio told CKTB News that without an official application or resolution of municipal council, they are unable to respond to this matter at this point in the process.
Chair of the Audit Committee and Regional Councillor Tony Quirk says he still has more questions and concerns after the KPMG report released last year.
"Listen we don't want it on our plate either, we've got important issues at the region to deal with but every time this comes up we have delegations from the citizens of Pelham saying 'Please help us.' And I, as Audit Chair say, 'There is a path, you can send a petition to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, or we can go through the OMB.'