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The interim president who was urgently appointed by metropolis council on Dec. 19 to rebuild the troubled Workplace de session publique de Montréal (OCPM) nonetheless hasn’t began the job.
Philippe Bourke, a former head of the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) and most not too long ago a supervisor with Hydro-Québec, is predicted to reach on Jan. 22, OCPM secretary-general Man Grenier informed the Montreal Gazette on Friday.
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That will probably be greater than a month after council voted unanimously to appoint Bourke on a six-month contract “as of” the December council assembly “or another date decided between the events,” the decision acknowledged. Mayor Valérie Plante’s Projet Montréal administration informed council on the time that it was pressing to select an interim president quickly however that the subsequent everlasting president can be chosen by means of a proper choice course of.
“I might say that the overwhelming majority of my colleagues have been of the idea that the incoming interim president can be (arriving) extraordinarily rapidly,” Ensemble Montréal opposition metropolis councillor Alain DeSousa stated when informed that Bourke hadn’t but began the job.
“There’s a niche by way of oversight. … I don’t suppose it’s a welcome hole or a wholesome hole.”
Hydro-Québec stated on Friday that Bourke left its make use of on the finish of 2023 and it has no solution to attain him.
Plante’s workplace referred questions on Bourke to town’s communications workplace.
Bourke’s contract with town begins on Jan. 22 and ends on July 19, metropolis spokesperson Gonzalo Nunez confirmed.
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“The date of Jan. 22 was agreed to following discussions between the events,” Nunez wrote in an e-mail response.
“It was set for Jan. 22 on the request of Mr. Bourke, on account of earlier commitments made by him.”
Previous and current managers of the unbiased session workplace turned embroiled in an expense scandal in November, which led metropolis council to fireside the president, Isabelle Beaulieu, at a gathering that month. Council additionally voted at its November assembly to present metropolis supervisor Serge Lamontagne duty for overseeing the OCPM pending the appointment of a brand new president. The council decision stated Lamontagne would provide momentary supervision of the OCPM till Dec. 20 and that the OCPM’s non-essential spending can be frozen.
“The town supervisor’s purview over the OCPM ended on the December council assembly,” DeSousa stated.
“The understanding was that the brand new individual appointed (as interim president) would be capable to enter into the place ASAP to keep away from leaving any gaps.”
The OCPM is totally funded by town, however stays at arm’s size. The workplace is managed by the president, who’s appointed by metropolis council, and the secretary-general, who is called by the president.
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The expense scandal revealed by Quebecor media in November involved journeys, dinners and different purchases by Beaulieu and her predecessor as OCPM president, Dominique Ollivier, in addition to by Grenier and his predecessor as secretary-general, Luc Doray.
Plante publicly referred to as for Beaulieu and Grenier to be eliminated. Nonetheless, solely the OCPM president can rent or hearth the secretary-general.
Within the meantime, Montreal auditor-general Andrée Cossette is conducting a particular audit of the OCPM’s bills going again to the beginning of Ollivier’s time period as president in 2014. Ollivier, who resigned as OCPM president in 2021 to run for a council seat with Projet Montréal, resigned as chairperson of town govt committee within the wake of the OCPM expense scandal. She stays a metropolis councillor.
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