Gillis, Singh say former TNRD CAO's spending habits were within policy

Photo: Castanet Staff

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District's former CAO was acting within the district's policy when he charged taxpayers for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of dinners, drinks, gifts and hotel stays, according to the chair of the TNRD's board.

In Wednesday’s edition of Kamloops This Week, a series of stories details how former TNRD CAO Sukh Gill spent more than $500,000 of taxpayer money between 2015 to 2020 on significant expenses, including high-end dining and hotels.

Policies regarding TNRD expense spending were changed after Gill and the regional district parted ways last year.

Kamloops Coun. Arjun Singh, also a director on the TNRD board, said Gill held responsibility to run the regional district administratively as he saw fit — and part of that was building relationships and being hospitable.

“Mr. Gill was working within the policies set out by the regional district at the time,” Singh told Castanet Kamloops.

“As a board, we have the ability to look at it. We do feel we should have more tight policies on that, and we’ve already done that. That’s where we are right now.”

Singh said he doesn’t think Gill was acting in bad faith by spending the amounts he did. Much of Gill's work made it necessary to travel around the region, Singh said, having coffee or meals with people.

“I think you always have to be really careful with public money, and that’s probably where it probably got a little too much, but again, I don’t think it was something done in bad faith,” Singh said.

Singh said he always appreciated opportunities to meet fellow board members in a more social setting — meetings Gill charged to a credit card paid for by taxpayers, according to the KTW article.

According to Singh, dinners and Christmas parties were “money well spent.”

“We’re a 26 member board, building relationships is quite important,” Singh said.

“That’s always been useful for me to have that kind of relationships with my colleagues. You look at it in retrospect, we tightened the policy, and now we move forward. But I don’t think Mr. Gill was at massive fault here. He was running the organization based on past practices and past presidents from other CAOs, and he tried to treat people well.”

TNRD Board Chair Ken Gillis agreed that some expenses, including those associated with the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference, were warranted.

“It’s an opportunity for us to gain knowledge of our member municipalities," he said.

"We've gained knowledge of their distinct issues. And we get to know our own municipal members much better. And it's opportunity to network with our MLA's. And it's one that I would argue is worth every penny.”

Gillis said the former CAO acted within policy, but his actions were “stretching the policies to its limits.”

“Technically, he was within policy … [but] the way Mr. Gill applied the policy was something with which I cannot agree,” he said, adding the board wasn’t aware of any of the excesses that have shown up.

Gillis said the TNRD has made dramatic changes in policy surrounding any kind of entertainment expense, and how things are billed.

“I think we've gone a long, long way to plugging the loopholes and making sure this doesn't occur again,” Gillis said.

“I am satisfied with the policy changes that have been made. And I'm confident that they will prevent the excesses in the future.”

Coun. Singh said taxpayers will watch the district carefully going forward, “and they should.”

"People will judge us based on what we learn from this experience,” he said.