June 28, 2022
House of Assembly Management Commission
No. 86
The Management Commission met at 10 a.m. via video conference.
B. RUSSELL:
Go ahead, Speaker.
SPEAKER (Bennett):
Okay, thank you, Bobbi.
Good morning, everyone. I call the meeting to order.
Before we begin the meeting, I'd just like to introduce Members of the
Management Commission and our staff that are present for today's meeting. First
of all, MHA Barry Petten, Opposition House Leader; Helen Conway Ottenheimer,
Member for Harbour Main; Lela Evans, Member for Torngat Mountains; Paul Pike,
Member for Burin - Grand Bank; Sandra Barnes, Clerk and Secretary to the
Commission; Brian Warr, Deputy Speaker; Kim Hawley George, Law Clerk and Acting
Clerk Assistant; and Bobbi Russell, Policy and Communications Officer.
I like to pass along apologies for Minister Crocker and Minister Dempster, who
have other commitments and are not able to join us at the meeting this morning.
Before we get into the first agenda items for today's meeting, as required under
the House of Assembly Accountability,
Integrity and Administration Act, I wish to report decisions taken at in
camera meetings. In today's meeting the briefing material minutes outline the
substance of the decisions taken at in camera meetings on January 26, February
16 and June 1, 2022, are noted. And an in camera meeting also took place on May
30, but there were no decisions taken at that meeting. For the information of
the public, the minutes of those in camera meetings are posted on the House of
Assembly website following today's approval.
So the first agenda item relates to the approval of those minutes. Draft minutes
of the meetings that were held on January 26, February 16 and June 1 are
included in your briefing packages.
Before I call for a motion, are there any questions or comments as it relates to
those minutes?
Seeing or hearing none, I will ask for a motion that the Commission approve the
minutes for the meetings held on January 26, February 16 and June 1, 2022.
Can I have a mover?
MHA Petten.
Seconder?
MHA Pike.
All those in favour, by a show of hands?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
MHA Evans, how do you vote?
L. EVANS:
In favour.
SPEAKER:
Thank you.
Motion carried.
On motion, minutes adopted as circulated.
SPEAKER:
The next item in regard to Speaker's report: the process for rulings on
allowance use is outlined in section 24 of the House of Assembly
Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act. The act gives authority
for the Speaker to make rulings when expenditures for Members have been rejected
for payment, provided that the ruling is distributed and received concurrence of
the Management Commission. Any ruling under this process must be reported at a
public meeting.
The report detailing all such rulings for the period of June 22, 2022, have been
circulated to the Commission with their briefing package and is posted on the
House of Assembly website as part of the briefing package of today's meeting.
These items are for reporting purposes only.
Before I move forward, are there any questions on those?
They have been reported and previous concurrence given.
Thank you.
The next agenda item is also a reporting item to the Commission. The House of
Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act
states that the Commission must
regularly, and at least quarterly, review the financial performance of the House
of Assembly as well as the actual expenditures of Members compared with approved
allocations.
Financial reports and Member expense reports for the period of April 1 to
December 1, 2021, and April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, are included in the
briefing packages for reporting purposes also.
Any questions before I move on to the next agenda item?
The next agenda item relates to the ratification of urgent budget transfers
approved by the Management Commission since its last regular meeting. The House
of Assembly transfer of funds policy delegates authority for approval of a
transfer of funds that is required urgently and there is not a significant time
for the Management Commission to schedule a meeting. There have been three
urgent budget item transfers approved using this authority since our last
regular meeting of January 25. The details of these transfers are outlined in
the briefing package.
Are there any questions or comments before I call for a motion of these proposed
items?
MHA Conway Ottenheimer.
H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:
Thank you, Speaker.
I just want clarification. So this has already been approved. We've approved
that – the Management Commission – and processed it. I just want to make sure
that that's clear to everyone. Right?
CLERK (Barnes):
That's correct.
H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:
Okay, thank you.
SPEAKER:
As I outlined in the briefing package, I'll call for a motion that the
Commission ratifies the following transfer of funds approvals in accordance with
section 5 of the House of Assembly transfer of funds policy. They are
HOABT2021-018, HOABT2021-019, HOABT2022-021.
Can I have a mover to that motion? MHA Conway Ottenheimer.
Seconder? MHA Pike.
All those in favour, by show of hands.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
MHA Evans, how do you vote?
L. EVANS:
In favour.
SPEAKER:
Thank you.
Motion carried.
P. PIKE:
That was MHA Petten that seconded, not me.
SPEAKER:
Oh sorry, it was MHA Petten. Can you note that in the minutes please, Bobbi?
The next agenda item deal with the transfer of funds requested by the Office of
the Chief Electoral Officer, which requires approval of the Management
Commission. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer requires the funding due
to the unbudgeted subsidy entitlement for the candidate in the 51st general
election of 2021. All subsidies related to the 2021 general election have been
approved, with the exception of this one.
The delay results in additional information being identified after the original
submission, required that the subsidy be reprocessed. The transfer of funds of
$3,500 is required, and further details are outlined in the briefing package.
Given this transfer has been outstanding for some time and payment for the
candidate's subsidy has been delayed, I'll also ask the Commission to consider
waiving the two-day waiting period that the Commission normally has to expedite
the process.
So we're looking to transfer $3,500 from the Chief Electoral Officer. Any
questions or comments, then?
MHA Conway Ottenheimer?
H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:
Yes, thank you.
I'm just curious, so it's $3,500 and that's for additional expenses. Could we
just have clarification as to what those additional expenses were? Is that
possible, please?
CLERK:
That has to do with the election subsidies. All the Members and the candidates
actually file after a general election, to do with campaign expenses. It's under
the act in terms of what they're allowed to have return on expenses for.
So this one was processed and they discovered some claims after the fact so it
had to be reprocessed. Of course, in this fiscal year there were no funds
available because we had expected all the subsidies to be processed. I wouldn't
have the exact details because these are filings with the Chief Electoral
Officer after the general election.
H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:
Okay, thank you.
SPEAKER:
Any further questions? Any further clarification?
If not, we'll call for a motion that the Commission approve the following
transfer of funds and waive the two-day waiting period for the Commission's
decision.
So it would be from the subdivision 1.1.04.09, Members' Resources - Allowances
and Assistance for the amount of $3,500 to be transferred to subdivision
3.1.01.10, to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer - Grants and Subsidies
for $3,500.
Can I have a mover for that motion?
MHA Petten; seconded by MHA Conway Ottenheimer.
All those in favour, by a show of hands.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
MHA Evans, how do you vote?
L. EVANS:
In favour.
SPEAKER:
Thank you.
Motion carried.
So the next agenda item, I'll ask if the Member for Conception Bay South would
like to recuse himself of this item.
B. PETTEN:
Yes.
SPEAKER:
Thank you.
The next agenda item deals with request for the Members for Conception Bay South
and Stephenville - Port au Port to the Management Commission in accordance with
section 24 of the House of Assembly
Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act which gives authority for
the Commission to make rulings on allowance use.
The expenditures of both Members were rejected for payment as they incurred in
2021-22 fiscal year but not submitted in the 30 days of the end of the year as
required by subsection 7(2) of the Members' Resources and Allowance Rules. The
expenditure in question for both Members are in compliance with other provisions
of rules and further details were outlined in your briefing package.
Any questions? Any further clarification before I call for the motion?
Hearing none, I'll ask for a mover and seconder that the Commission approves
payment of the following expenses to be paid within the appropriate allocation
for the 2022-2023 fiscal year for the following Members: the Member for
Conception Bay South, $1,221.24 and the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port,
$575.
Can I have a mover of that motion? MHA Pike.
A seconder? MHA Conway Ottenheimer.
All those in favour, by show of hands.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
MHA Evans, how do you vote?
L. EVANS:
In favour.
SPEAKER:
Thank you kindly.
Motion carried.
MHA Petten can join the meeting again now.
Thank you, Sir.
B. PETTEN:
Thank you.
SPEAKER:
The next agenda item deals with the lease renewal for the Office of the Chief
Electoral Officer, which leases 9,150 square feet of space at 39 Hallett
Crescent in St. John's. The previous five-year lease with Fairview Investments
Limited expired on May 17, 2021. It was extended for one year and expires on
June 30, 2022.
Transportation and Infrastructure has not issued a new lease for this space. As
such, new space will not be available before the current year lease ends on June
30, 2022. Transportation and Infrastructure has further advised that it does not
have any suitable space in government-owned or leased premises and that the
current lease is within fair market value. A one-year extension with Fairview
Investments Limited will be required to ensure that Transportation and
Infrastructure has opportunity to commence the tender process for a new lease.
The details on this lease agreement are in your briefing package and I open the
floor to any questions or comments.
MHA Conway Ottenheimer.
H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:
Thank you.
I just would like to have some clarification about, in terms of the tendering
process, why didn't Transportation and Infrastructure issue the tender for the
leased space in time. Because really in a sense what's happened is it
essentially means that the new space is not available.
So can someone explain that process to me and now we're looking for a further
extension. I'm just wondering how this came about.
CLERK:
Yes. When it came up the last time, there was a discussion amongst the
Management Commission and the Management Commission wanted us to go back because
there was some thought that there would be – because of reconfiguration of
various government departments and everything, that there might be suitable
space available within government-owned or leased premises to accommodate the
Chief Electoral Office.
Anyway, with COVID and everything, just getting that meeting on the go took some
time. We finally had it, but they don't – I mean essentially they need a lot of
warehouse space. And that's not something that government regularly holds in its
inventory.
They are in the process now of doing their tender documents, the office is,
because with the VoterView application that they used in the last general
election, I think some of their requirements might change a bit, anyway, and
that will be issued. But there's no other option really, only to stay where they
are until we can issue that tender and the results come in. But Transportation
and Infrastructure did say that the amount being charged is a fair rate as well.
H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:
Thank you.
So how long would you expect the tendering process to take now?
CLERK:
Well, the last time I spoke with them about their lease was probably a couple of
weeks ago, and I know that they had been working on it at that point. Michelle
Evans, who used to work in our Corporate and Members' Services, is now the
director of – oh my, what is it, the elections – anyway, she's over there. She's
a great asset to that office because she's used to doing these things. But I
know that they're actively working on it at this point in time.
Once it goes to tender, then it's getting the suitable space, making sure that
it is ready, and then of course we'll have to look at, depending on what
happens, you may incur moving time and things like that. So it does take a fair
bit of time. You wouldn't think it but it does take a fair bit of time to
actually play out.
H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:
Okay, thank you very much.
SPEAKER:
Any further questions?
If not, I'll call for a mover and seconder that the Commission approve the
Office of the Chief Electoral Officer to enter into renewal discussions for the
lease of the premises occupied by the office with Fairview Investments Limited,
terms to be negotiated can be one year, month-to-month or any other term usually
agreed by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer and the landlord.
Can I have a mover to that motion, please?
MHA Petten.
Seconder?
MHA Conway Ottenheimer.
All those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
MHA Evans, how do you vote?
L. EVANS:
In favour.
SPEAKER:
Thank you very much.
Motion carried.
The last agenda item for today's meeting relates to the precommitment of funds
for the 2023 –
CLERK:
No, that was dealt with.
B. RUSSELL:
That one was done already. That was the in camera piece done on Friday.
SPEAKER:
Correct, sorry.
So there are no other agenda items. This concludes our meeting for today.
Can we have a motion to adjourn?
MHA Petten.
Seconder?
MHA Conway Ottenheimer.
All those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
MHA Evans, how do you vote?
L. EVANS:
In favour.
SPEAKER:
Thank you.
So thank you, everyone. The meeting is now adjourned and we will be contacting
Members as for dates for the next in camera and public meetings.
Thank you; enjoy the rest of your day.
On motion, meeting adjourned.