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BYLAW - Appoint Joint Compliance Audit Committee - 20100713 - 525910THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF AURORA By-law Number 5259-10 BEING A BY-LAW to appoint a Joint Compliance Audit Committee WHEREAS subsection 81(1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, S.O. 1996, c. 32, Sched., as amended, (the "Act'), provides that an elector who is entitled to vote in an election and believes on reasonable grounds that a candidate has contravened a provision of the Act relating to election campaign finances may apply for a compliance audit of the candidate's election campaign finances; AND WHEREAS subsection 81.1(1) of the Act provides that a council or local board shall, before October 1 of an election year, establish a committee for the purposes of section 81; AND WHEREAS no provision in the Act precludes municipalities from sharing a compliance audit committee; AND WHEREAS subsection 81.1(2) of the Act provides that the Committee shall be composed of not fewer than three (3) and not more than seven (7) members and shall not include, (a) employees or officers of the municipality or local board; (b) members of the council or local board; or (c) any persons who are candidates in the election for which the committee is established; AND WHEREAS on April 13, 2010, the Council of The Corporation of the Town of Aurora (the "Town") endorsed participating with other interested York Region municipalities in establishing a Joint Compliance Audit Committee (the "Committee"), adopted Terms of Reference for the Committee, and directed the Town Clerk or his designate to work with other interested York Region municipalities to recruit applicants for the Committee; AND WHEREAS the Town, the Town of East Gwillimbury, the Town of Georgina, the Town of Richmond Hill, and the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, together with the Township of King, deemed it expedient to establish the Committee with each other; AND WHEREAS on June 8, 2010, the Council of the Town appointed members to the Committee; NOW THEREFORE THE COUNCIL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF AURORA ENACTS AS FOLLOWS: 1. THAT the Committee be and is hereby established. 2. THAT the Committee shall consist of the following individuals, at least three (3) of whom shall be selected to deal with each compliance audit request in accordance with the Terms of Reference attached hereto as Schedule "A": - Janet Andrews - Mark Gannage - Michael N. Kennedy - Ada Leung - M. Virginia MacLean - Daniel Murack 3. Should any of the members of the Committee referred to in Section 2 resign or otherwise be unable to perform their duties, the following individuals shall be called upon as alternates, without the necessity of taking any further steps to constitute them as members of the Committee: Victor Lee Vince J. Scaramuzza Maria E. Schmidt 4. THAT the business of the Committee be conducted in accordance with the Terms of Reference for the Committee, as set out in Schedule "A", attached hereto, which shall be binding and form part of this By-law. 5. THAT this By-law shall come into force and have effect upon third reading. READ A FIRST AND SECOND TIME THIS 13TH DAY OF JULY, 2010. READ A THIRD TIME AND FINALLY PASSED THIS 13TH DAY OF JULY, 2010. WV*0-J PHYLLIS M QRRIS. MAYOR AppwdL wSnvteu Jv( P, 2oio By-law 5259-10 Joint Compliance Audit Committee By-law Page 3 SCHEDULE"A" TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR JOINT COMPLIANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE MANDATE The powers and functions of the Committee are set out in Section 81 of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. Within 30 days of receipt of an application requesting a compliance audit, the Committee shall consider the compliance audit application and decide whether it should be granted or rejected; 2. If the application is granted, the Committee shall appoint an auditor to conduct a compliance audit of the candidate's election campaign finances; 3. The Committee will review the auditor's report within 30 days of receipt and decide whether legal proceedings should be commenced; and 4. If the auditor's report indicates that there were no. apparent contraventions and if there appears there were no reasonable grounds for the application, the Committee shall advise Council accordingly. Members of Council, staff or candidates running for office in the 2010 municipal election are not eligible to be appointed to the Committee. Should an appointed Member accept employment with any of the member municipalities or register as a candidate with any of the member municipalities, their appointment will be terminated. All Committee Members must agree in writing that they will not work for or provide advice to any candidate running for municipal office within the member municipalities. To avoid any potential conflict of interest, applicants with accounting or auditing backgrounds must agree in writing that they will not offer their services to any municipal election candidates. Anyone who has participated as candidates in the member municipality elections, or who have conducted audits or provided financial advice in respect of such campaigns, would be disqualified from participation on the Committee. COMPOSITION One member appointed from each participating municipality. When a municipality is in receipt of an appeal, the Clerk of the applicable municipality shall contact the Committee Members and arrange for a minimum of three Members to hear the audit request. TERM The term of the Committee is co -terminus with Council. By-law 5259-10 Joint Compliance Audit Committee By-law Page 4 CHAIR The three -Member Committee called to hear a request for compliance audit shall select one of its Members to act as a Chair at the first meeting. PROPOSED MEETING SCHEDULE The Committee shall meet as needed with meetings to be scheduled by the Clerk, in consultation with the Chair, when a compliance audit application is received. STAFFING AND FUNDING Staff from the applicable member municipality shall provide administrative support to the Committee. The member municipality requiring the services of the Committee shall be responsible for all associated expenses. RECORDS The records emanating from of the Joint Compliance Audit Committee shall be retained and preserved by the municipality requesting the services of the Committee in accordance with that municipality's Record Retention By-law. MEETINGS Meetings of the Committee shall be conducted in accordance with the open meeting requirements of the provisions in the Municipal Act, 2001. The websites of the member municipalities will be utilized to communicate the meeting notices and agendas. REMUNERATION $400 - Retainer fee (includes compensation for review of any background materials). $350 - Per Diem rate, plus mileage. MEMBERSHIP SELECTION All applicants will be required to complete an application form outlining their qualifications and experience. Each member municipality will select an individual who will serve on the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee shall meet to review all applications based upon the approved selection criteria. The Selection Committee shall prepare a short list for consideration by the Councils of the member municipalities. Each municipality shall select one member to be appointed to the Joint Compliance Audit Committee. SELECTION CRITERIA a) Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of municipal election campaign financing rules; b) Proven analytical and decision -making skills; c) Experience working on committees, task forces or similar settings; d) Demonstrated knowledge of quasi-judicial proceedings; e) Availability and willingness to attend meetings.