THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF ARRAN-ELDERSLIE
519-363-3039 Fax: 519-363-2203 areld@bmts.com
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- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
June 25, 2009
Arran-Elderslie
Dismisses Chief Building Official for Breach of Contract
Craig Johnston has today, June 25, 2009, been
dismissed as the Chief Building Official (and Property Standards Officer,
By-law Enforcement Officer and Provincial Offences Officer) for the
Municipality of Arran-Elderslie.
Mr Johnston was found to have breached specific
terms of his contract with Arran-Elderslie relating to a prohibition on
designing buildings for construction within the Municipality, and further for
not advising the Municipality of receipt of building permit applications for
buildings which he had designed. On
December 12, 2008 and again on January 15, 2009, Mr. Johnston stated in writing
to the Municipality that there were only two buildings that he could recall
having designed within the Municipality, namely the Paisley Medical Clinic and
Chesley Agricultural Storage Building, which projects were undertaken at the
instruction of the Municipality, and one other project which was never built.
Prior to very recent receipt of concrete
documentation of these matters in mid-June, there had been no hard evidence
available on which the Municipality was able to act, except to commission the
independent audit of a selection of building permit files in the possession of
the Municipality.
Upon receipt of the concrete documentation, the
Chief Administrative Officer and the Municipal Solicitor investigated further
and the audit by Glenn Tunnock was reopened with Mr. Tunnock reviewing the
further information available.
This issue relates to the employment contract
with Mr. Johnston and does not compromise the status of any building in
Arran-Elderslie that was inspected by Mr. Johnston, regardless of who designed
it. As a qualified Chief Building
Official who has inspected the construction, the requirements of the Ontario
Building Code have been met.
Residents are also advised that the telephone number for building permit information is 519 363 3039. The previously published cell telephone number of 519 375 2591 is no longer in service for the purposes of municipal business.
BACKGROUNDER
The recent audit of Arran-Elderslie’s Building
Permit Files by Glenn Tunnock resulted in a number of recommendations to
improve the service provided by the municipality. It must be stressed that the review was based
on the material provided as contained in the municipality’s files and there was
no mandate to verify that the documents in the files were accurate.
The review was undertaken in response to certain
allegations that the files were incomplete.
The municipality had received no written or verifiable complaints,
however Council chose to move forward with the review of the files. Without concrete evidence it was impossible
to investigate any further.
Following the audit, on June 1, 2009, a list of
suspect files was provided to Council.
The Chief Administrative Officer and Municipal Solicitor reviewed
specific documents in a limited number of files with the Chief Building Official
on June 1st to confirm their origins. The list of issues was revealed to the Chief
Building Official one item at a time and the review of each item was completed
before the next was identified. A
document outlining the permit number, name of owner/applicant, nature of permit
and the Chief Building Official’s comments was prepared and signed as being
accurate by all three parties that day.
Where the designer of the building plans was at issue, a copy of the
information corner of the plan was made by the Chief Administrative Officer
(the balance of information on those plans is not public information).
Shortly after the results of this investigation
were reported out to Council (June 8th) certain property owners
provided plans to their buildings to the Municipal Solicitor in confidence that
they stated to be the plans for their structures. Those plans were clearly identified as being
designed by Craig Johnston Designs and were not the ‘store bought’ plans contained
in the relevant building permit files and produced for the Chief Administrative
Officer and Municipal Solicitor on June 1st.
Following receipt of this documentation, the
audit was reopened and Glenn Tunnock was called back to review/confirm certain
matters with respect to this newly received information.
Craig Johnston has clearly breached the article
in his contract which states that he may not design buildings for construction
within the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie, that should such a design be
presented for a building permit, that he not inspect such buildings, and for
that reason and for wilfully concealing these conflicts, he has been dismissed
from his employment with the Municipality.
Mr. Tunnock
and the Municipality both stress that, under the Ontario Building Code, there
is no problem with any building inspected by Craig Johnston, no matter who
designed it. A qualified inspector as
set out in the Building Code Act has inspected the buildings and
therefore the requirements of the Act have been satisfied.
For more information, contact Mayor Ron Oswald
at 519 363 3039.