As the January deadline nears for municipalities to comply with new public accounting rules — Kincardine is being asked for more money from the company helping them make the transition.
As Bayshore Broadcasting News Reporter James Morgan tells us — Council wants to meet with the consultants before deciding if they should pay it.
Urban Environmental Management (UEM) and the municipality inked a contract worth almost 160 thousand dollars for the work two years ago.
Back in January — the company said it needed 35 thousand dollars more, but staff have been able to bring the amount down to 18 thousand.
The consulting firm claims they’ve had to do more work than expected.
Councillor Marsha Leggett does not support the idea of paying the extra money.
She isn’t blaming the consultants for the situation, but instead says the Finance Department should have told Council sooner.
Leggett says they’ve known about the situation for several months, and it isn’t their job to negotiate on council’s behalf.
Leggett says Council should have been informed when the difficulties first arose — and the consultants should have been told then that a contract had already been settled for a certain amount of money.
Deputy Mayor Laura Haight was the one who suggested they meet with UEM during an in-camera session to talk things over.
She says that will take Finance staff out of the awkward position of having to defend the company before council.
Haight says it will also allow her and other council members to find out what the contract details were, and what extra work has had to be done.
The Deputy Mayor says if the consultants can prove the extra work was necessary, she would support paying the extra fees.