Video – Cleveland Accuses Police Board of Keeping Financial Concerns Secret as OPP Review Looms

Pete Fisher
2 hours ago
• Categories: Local

(Today’s Northumberland file photo)

Cobourg mayor says police budget could be nearly $2 million over budget as he demands answers at special Council meeting

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Mayor Lucas Cleveland is accusing the Cobourg Police Services Board of keeping serious financial concerns from Council and taxpayers, questioning why a review of the police service’s finances was conducted behind closed doors and only made public after he called another special Council meeting to demand answers.

In a strongly worded statement issued Monday, October 12 — Thanksgiving Day — Cleveland said he believes his efforts to force greater transparency surrounding the Cobourg Police Service budget were directly connected to the timing of a news release issued by the Police Services Board on Sunday, October 11.

The Board’s release confirmed that a detailed financial review had been conducted by its Financial Manager, that the resulting report was forwarded to the Inspectorate of Policing, that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) had been consulted, and that the Town of Cobourg’s Treasurer had been asked to conduct a comprehensive peer review.

Cleveland said he had no knowledge of those steps being taken.

“I, as Mayor, had no knowledge of this,” Cleveland stated, adding that Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty and Councillor Adam Bureau, who chairs the Police Services Board, were the Council representatives who would have been aware of the information.

The mayor also questioned what documentation supported the Board’s assertion that its actions were documented.

“What documentation?” Cleveland asked.

The revelations come as Cleveland prepares to bring four motions before a special meeting of Council on Tuesday, October 13, seeking the release of confidential financial records from the previous term of Council, written answers about outstanding financial matters, clarification about who knew what regarding the Town’s finances, and a public accounting of the police service’s financial situation over the past four years.

Cleveland said he believes the Board’s decision to release its statement on Thanksgiving weekend was directly linked to the meeting he called. That is his stated belief; the Board’s release, as described by Cleveland, does not establish that connection.

‘Serious issues to address’

In its October 11 statement, Board Chair Adam Bureau said the Board had taken steps to investigate the financial concerns.

“We have faced difficult decisions, asked tough questions, and taken steps to ensure that these financial concerns are properly examined,” Bureau stated.

Cleveland challenged that account, saying the concerns had not been brought before Cobourg Council.

He also pointed to an August Council meeting at which he said both Bureau and Beatty refused to second his motion concerning the police budget, preventing the proposed review from proceeding in the manner he had sought.

Cleveland said Bureau’s acknowledgment that there were “serious issues to address” raised a fundamental question about why elected representatives and the taxpayers who fund the police service had not been informed sooner.

“Accountability is not about pointing fingers or assigning blame before all the facts are known,” Bureau stated in the Board’s release.

Cleveland rejected what he characterized as an attempt to obscure the seriousness of the situation through carefully worded statements.

He argued that the involvement of the OPP and the Inspectorate of Policing underscored the need for answers, although their involvement alone does not establish that wrongdoing occurred.

The Police Services Board’s financial review, the nature of the concerns identified and the circumstances surrounding the referrals will be central to the questions facing Council.