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Information: www.oakvillesantaclausparade.ca MEETING FOR ALL SANTAS ELVES Anyone interested in volunteering for the Oakville Santa Claus Parade please come to a meeting Wednesday, November 10th 6:30 pm registration, 7:00 pm start Town of Oakville, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville (Trafalgar Rd. @ White Oaks Blvd.) in the South Atrium ADULT AND STUDENT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR: Traffic & Parade Marshalling Costumed Characters and Escorts (students will receive volunteer hours) Parade takes place on Saturday, November 20th at 9:00 am w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Fr id ay , N ov em be r 5 , 2 01 0 8 UPSCALE LADIES WEAR 103 Reynolds St. at Lakeshore Rd. E., Downtown Oakville 905.844.2510 Mon.-Wed. 10-6, urs.-Fri. 10-8 Sun. 12-4 GERRY WEBER 30%off Entire Fall/Winter Collection Exclusively at Elfi es The Board of Oakville Hydro, its affiliates and subsidiaries would also be directed to pro- vide full access to all records, staff and other information in order to provide a report to Council on said contributions including, but not limited to, the following questions: Who approved the contributions? Was the Board of Directors aware of the donations? Were these items attributed in an Oakville Hydro, affiliate or subsidiary's budget and under what category of expense? Under what policy was this donation allowed to be made? Who attended the two events in question in 2008 and 2009 with the tickets acquired for each event by way of the donations made? What was the rationale for making the donations/purchasing the tickets? Recommendations for further action and/or recovery of the funds from those who used the tickets to the events if deemed neces- sary. The motion also said that to avoid perceived or actual conflict of interest, the members of the committee shall be appointed from among councillors who were not serving on the corpo- ration's board of directors at the time of the donations and that such members not partici- pate in the nomination or election of commit- tee members. Mayor Rob Burton and Ward 6 Councillor Max Khan are currently members of the Oakville Hydro board of directors. The Town Legal Department would also be directed to provide all resources deemed neces- sary by the committee including, but not limit- ed to, advice, analysis and administrative servic- es. The motion called for all disclosure and con- fidentiality agreements, which may bar access to relevant data, be lifted as necessary and said any information, documentation, interviews, hearings or other related matters shall be con- ducted in a public forum and made available to the general public to ensure accountability. This item will appear on the Nov. 15, coun- cil agenda as a notice of motion meaning it would not actually be dealt with until the fol- lowing council meeting. Knoll, however, has said that he will ask council to wave the rules and deal with the motion immediately. I hope that my colleagues will recognize there is a great deal of anger about this issue. My phone and my e-mail havent stopped since this became known a couple of days ago, said Knoll. Not withstanding how they feel about it, or not withstanding their loyalties on council, I hope they will allow this motion to proceed so we can get clear answers and so we can bring closure to this matter, correct the problem and bring closure to it. Here we are about to enter a new term of council and we are right smack dab in the middle of a controversy. Knoll said this kind of scandal, in which a taxpayer-owned institution is alleged to have given a large amount of money to a political party, is exactly the kind of activity that makes people cynical about politics. This kind of thing makes us all look bad, he said. We (council) do control Oakville Hydro, ultimately as the shareholder, so this just touches all of us. Councillor will introduce motion for inquiry Nov. 15 I hope my colleagues will recognize there is a great deal of anger about this issue. My phone and my e-mail have not stopped since this became known a couple of days ago. Ward 5 Regional Councillor Jeff Knoll Continued from page 1 In response to questions from The Oakville Beaver about his reaction to Ward 5 Town and Regional Councillor Jeff Knolls proposed motion Oakville Mayor Rob Burton issued the following response via e-mail: First, a political inquiry to determine responsibility for something for which I take responsibility seems a waste of time to me. I asked the then-president if companies like ours attended and if we should and he agreed and expensed it. The then-board did not pass a motion. It was viewed as a normal course of business activity to attend the Heritage Dinner. The present board and presi- dent did not continue the attendance at the function in 2010 nor has there been any other political activity. Second, if Mr Knoll wants to introduce a motion banning Oakville Hydro paying to attend at functions sponsored by political parties, I could support introduction of that in the normal course of business of the next term of Council. Third, the procedurally correct course appears to me to be for him to refer checking of Oakville Hydro's accounts to the Internal Auditor and his concerns about responsibility and recourse to the Integrity Officer, not to politicians. We all supported creation of the Internal Auditor and the Integrity Officer posi- tions, and they were created for the purposes he proposes, so we should use the estab- lished processes, which are reported to public meetings of Council. Mayor responds