Complaints filed under the City of Vancouver’s whistleblower policy that relate to the sale of city lands has prompted the auditor general’s office to commence a performance audit that it says will “address the allegations in a more systemic manner.”
The information was included in the auditor general’s first-ever whistleblower annual report for 2024. Mike Macdonell’s office took over responsibility of whistleblower complaints last year from the human resources department, and now has a dedicated whistleblower team.
“The [complaints] raised issues arising from specific transactions involving the sale of city lands, including whether the sale process was robust and whether council was fully informed before approving recommendations to sell the land,” said the report, which went before council Thursday.
The whistleblower team’s preliminary assessment concluded an investigation was warranted. However, early in the investigation it was determined the issues raised “would best be examined systematically rather than just looking at the individual transactions that were the focus of the report.”
No further details were disclosed in the report regarding the transactions, but Macdonell told BIV prior to his presentation to council that his office received a half-dozen complaints from “outside the city” regarding the transactions.
He said the complainants were concerned the city wasn't obtaining best value for the lands, “so that’s the subject of the performance audit.” A report is expected to go before council in mid-2025.
'Substantial investigation'
The complaints were among the first whistleblower reports Macdonell’s office received in 2024 in its expanded role. The office received 173 reports under the whistleblower policy, with 191 distinct allegations.
“The [auditor general’s office] provided timely responses to reports in 2024, with 163 of 173 reports received in 2024 closed by the year end, with the remainder under active assessment or investigation,” the report said.
One “substantial investigation” is ongoing.
“Because findings are still to be tested and natural justice processes completed, little detail can be provided in this 2024 report,” the report said. “However, already the facts illustrate the value of the [office’s] management of the whistleblower function.”
The office received complaints under the policy from employees and citizens, with only 21 per cent in 2024 being anonymous. One anonymous report led to an investigation that identified “control weaknesses” in the city’s management of its vehicle fleet.
Allegations of misuse of city vehicles
Others concerned allegations of conflict of interest regarding a political staffer and alleged misuse of city vehicles by city employees, including sleeping in a vehicle while on shift.
In the case of the political staffer, Macdonell’s office found no wrongdoing but recommended changes to the code of conduct. He did not name the staffer in the report.
As for the misuse of vehicles, investigations determined there was no serious wrongdoing. An employee was taking his allotted break when was spotted by a complainant sleeping in the vehicle.
“The city communicated to the employee the risk to the city’s reputation of appearing to sleep in a marked city vehicle in public, even when on an approved break,” the report said.
In the other case, where a city vehicle was being taken home by the employee, it was determined to be allowed.
“Ultimately the investigation found that management had granted permission for this practice, primarily on the grounds of employee safety,” the report said.
“The imprecise, and in some parts contradictory, nature of relevant city policies meant that it was not possible to say the practice was inconsistent with city policies regarding vehicle use.”
At the same time, the auditor general’s office cited concerns over employees obtaining a personal benefit from use of the vehicle and non-compliance with Canada Revenue Agency obligations.
Despite the volume of complaints, the office’s statistics show 142 did not proceed beyond the initial assessment phase. At the same time, that does not mean no action was taken, with Macdonell telling council that more awareness of the office’s mandate has to be done so employees and citizens know which departments should be contacted.
“A common example where we would direct the reports to another forum is where they relate to parking infractions, for which there is already an established forum for disputes,” the report said.
Conflict of interest
The top 10 issues by report type were:
• Out of scope of the office (24).
• Parking tickets/enforcement (21).
• Code of conduct (20)
• Police/crime (15)
• Fraud, waste, or both (15)
• Parks and recreation (11)
• Equity, respect in workplace (11)
• Environmental, sustainability (11)
• Conflict of interest (10)
• Property use (10)
The report said the auditor general’s office continues to track the outcome of reports referred to city departments.
An example of a report referred to a city department came from a construction safety officer working for an external contractor at a city site. The officer was allegedly removed from the city site by the contractor for reporting an issue with the safety orientation process.
“The [city’s] chief safety officer and his team investigated the matter and determined that the complainant raised a valid issue,” the report said.
Council endorsed all 17 recommendations outlined in the whistleblower report.
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