Acting on concerns raised by the director of finance, the City of White Rock has changed its policies around procurement.
Few details have been disclosed, however, Mayor Wayne Baldwin did say concerns relating to 2009, 2010 and 2011 were brought to council’s attention by director of finance, Sandra Kurylo, at the start of the new term last fall.
“This council takes these matters seriously,” Baldwin said, in releasing the information from a closed meeting of the finance and audit committee. “In the future, there’ll be no tolerance of policy and process violations. We’ll be minding our p’s and q’s.”
Baldwin announced the “corrective action” at the June 11 council meeting.
He later told Peace Arch News that in addition to language changes in policies, staff have taken extra training on procurement “and the necessity of passing on the policies and making sure the policies are followed.”
Citing confidentiality, Baldwin said he “really can’t talk about” if mistakes were made, but assured that nothing illegal took place.
“Did it affect anything? No. Just the policies themselves that had to be changed.”
A March 5 report by Kurylo to the city’s governance committee suggests six amendments, including to “more clearly define responsibilities and emphasize the requirement for prior budget approval” and “add sections on dealing with sole/single source procurement and contract changes.”