Brampton’s integrity commissioner has found that Mayor Susan Fennell violated the code of conduct by “knowingly over-spending” on more than $190,000 in airfare.
The report from Robert Swayze comes exactly one month after a forensic audit revealed that Fennell broke city rules by spending $7,316 on business class airfare tickets to London and Nunavut and thousands more on premium hotel rooms.
The audit also singled out tens of thousands of dollars in flight passes, many of which expired before they were able to be used while others were used for travel in less expensive zones.
“I find that the Mayor has violated the Code by knowingly over-spending on her business travel on multiple occasions with the intention to upgrade to business class contrary to City policy,” Swayze wrote in his report. “The purchase of latitude passes which are notionally economy class, also lacks transparency. The cost to the City of this breach of the Code, since 2008, has been substantial.”
The audit from Deloitte Canada found that Fennell purchased eight Latitude flight passes from Air Canada, with each pass including 30 one-way flight credits.
The per flight cost of the credits ranged from $709 to $942, making many of the flights more expensive than economy class fare.
In his report, Swayze said Fennell informed him that the passes were purchased because they feature a lower cost for changes and cancellations, which is needed given her “frenetic schedule.”
Swayze also said that Fennell claimed that she "specifically sought approval" for the purchase of the passes and was told that they were in line with city policy.
The integrity commissioner, however, suggested that the real reason the passes were purchased is because they allow the user to travel in business class.
City rules require that economy airfare should be used on all flights less than five hours.
“I believe that this level of pass was purchased by the Mayor or her staff with her approval, solely because they are freely upgradeable to business class,” Swayze wrote. “I requested from the Mayor the class flown for all users but I was not provided with that information. She confirmed to me in our meeting, that she sat in business class seats while flying on the passes, but didn't indicate how many times she upgraded. I can only assume that if an upgrade to business class was available, it was taken for all flights."
Swayze also examined a $509-a-night premium hotel room at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler and a $369-a-night premium hotel room at the Fairmont Empress Victoria that were identified in the audit, but said he did not have enough information to verify Fennell’s claims that the rooms were booked because of the need for additional meeting space.
In addition to the violations by Fennell, Swayze also ruled that Coun. Bob Callahan broke the code of conduct by expensing law fees and that Coun. John Hutton broke the code of conduct by purchasing a number of rose theatre ticketts for his wife and expensing four subscriptions to magazines that were "unrelated to city business."
Brampton council will decide on Wednesday what, if any, punishment to hand Fennell, Callahan and Hutton for the violations.
The maximum penalty is a 90-day suspension of pay.
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