Cape Breton council to discuss corporate credit card spending of former mayor

The Cape Breton Regional Council is holding on a meeting on the credit card expenses of the former mayor.

The Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) council will soon vote on whether or not a credit card controversy involving the past mayor is a police matter.

A recent municipal audit determined former Mayor Amanda McDougall-Merrill charged $16,699.88 in personal expenses to the CBRM corporate credit card. The money has since been paid back.

Nova Scotia’s Department of Municipal Affairs determined it was satisfied with CBRM’s actions in investigating the irregularities.

“And they sent it back to us to make a decision, so that’s what we will do,” said District 1 councillor Gordon MacDonald.

MacDonald said the matter has not gone away in the eyes of his constituents.

“People are very angry, very upset - the public trust, and I get it,” MacDonald said. “I came into this job talking about public trust and being transparent and (having) open conversation. It’s a horrible… publicly, the optics, and look of it, it’s a terrible situation and people are voicing their opinions.”

In an emailed statement to CTV Atlantic, McDougall-Merrill said errors were made when she was without a key member of her administrative staff during her final 14 months as mayor.

Former councillor Cyril MacDonald, who served throughout McDougall-Merrill’s term, said as a taxpayer he feels due diligence has already been done.

“An honest mistake that I think was righted, and now it’s time to move on,” MacDonald said.

He also wondered whether pursuing the matter further could set a precedent when it comes to other elected officials and their expenses.

“There’s certainly politicians past, and I would say present, that have misappropriated significantly more money than that - and I don’t think we need to look too far to find that,” MacDonald said.

Council is expected to vote at a special in-camera meeting whether to refer the matter to the RCMP for further investigation, or to decide that their own process - and the province’s - was enough.

“That’s where it would end, I would guess,” Gordon MacDonald said. “I don’t know if there’s any other further actions that could be taken.”

A date has not yet been set for the special meeting of council.

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