Our CAO Helped Fund the $830,000 that IMH Spent on Their Office Space
Do You Know How Lavishly Invest Medicine Hat (IMH) Spent on Their Offices?
Here’s a hint, you could buy a couple of nice houses with it.
Where did the money come from? The CAO Contingency Budget. I wrote about this petty cash before.
https://www.allard4mhcc.com/post/how-much-is-your-petty-cash
In 2019, the CAO’s $1,000,000 /yr budget for capital projects was slashed to a mere $500k but is scheduled to go back up to a $1,000,000 in 2023.
Source 2019-2022 Business Plans Municipal Services and Land & Business Support
(In 2015 it was only $250k, in 2017 it was a million. This PREDATES our current CAO, he wasn’t hired until Sept 2018.)
The office improvements needed to split the cost over 2 years. Obviously our CAO Bob Nicolay approved this, it is called the CAO Contingency Fund after all.
2019 - $335,000 2020 - $495,000
You'll notice the 2020 amount is just under the $500,000 that the CAO gets every year. The $495,000 was called a “repayable loan”.
(Source pgs 64-65, 68 of the Apr 19 2021 City Council Agenda)
We spent $830,000 on "leasehold improvements" in 2 years on a property that is not even City-Owned. The 2021 assessed value for that address was only $1,481,200.
Source - City Website
How the hell did that happen? I want to know.
What did our $830,000 pay for? I want to know.
Who owns that property? I want to know.
Did we even get a discount on the rent? I want to know.
IMH's original Towne Square budget was $2 million. $1 million was budgeted for the canopy and sea-cans alone; it also included Public Toilets. Now it’s at $2.4 million, fewer sea-cans but no Public Toilets.
But hey, who cares as long as people can pee behind a tree, amiright? There’s lots of trees and some bushes across the street in Veteran’s Memorial Park, you’d need your own toilet paper in winter. <sarcasm>
We’re supposed to trust IMH with large amounts of money? I don’t think so.
Councilor Sharps, please keep asking the hard questions!
Council, please check and see if IMH paid the $495,000 back to the CAO Capital Contingency Fund as promised. I want to know.
Council, please find out how the CAO Contingency Fund was used in 2021. I want to know.
Council, please check on the budgeted amount of the CAO Capital Contingency Fund for 2023, is it a million? I want to know.
Please post with your ideas, how else could we have spent $830,000? I want to know.
Please contact our elected officials at City Hall and let them know how angry this makes you.
https://www.medicinehat.ca/en/government-and-city-hall/council-members.aspx
We need to put a stop to this. Please make the call or send the e-mail!
#linnsieclark #robertdumanowski #cassihider #darrenhirsch #allisonknodel #andymcgrogan #ramonarobins #shilasharps #alisonvandyke #kasosumh #IMHofficespace #caocontingencyfund #couldhaveboughtahouse #iwanttoknow