Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and his staff spent a record $264,137 on non-essential goods and services in 2015, including $174,321 on communications consultants, according to documents released under Freedom of Information.
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Spending on consultants from the so-called Mayor’s Discretionary Fund increased 86% from 2014’s $93,815 and far exceeded the $129,346 spent on all goods and services that year. Between November 2011 and December 2015, the total cost of consultants, advertising, travel, taxis, food and drink and other items was nearly $650,000. Of that, 60 cents of every taxpayer dollar went to consultants, many of whom have ties to the Robertson-led Vision Vancouver party.
NPA Coun. George Affleck called it wasteful. The Mayor’s Office directory shows 10 staff while another 25 people work in communications jobs at city hall and parks board.
“As the mayor, when he talks about affordability and the ever-increasing costs to people of this city, the first place he should look is literally in his own office,” Affleck said. “If he can’t provide restraint of his own spending, how can we expect he has any kind of ability to manage taxpayer dollars?”
More than a third of the money paid to consultants in 2015 went to two former Robertson aides who left their city jobs last spring.
Lara Honrado, who worked in the Mayor’s Office from October 2009 to April 2015, is principal at Georgetown Strategy Consulting, which was paid $31,000 for strategic planning services from May to September. Honrado also heads the Burnaby-North Seymour federal Liberal riding association.
Ko worked under Robertson from November 2010 to May 2015. She joined a U.S. charity affiliated with the United Nations Refugee Agency, but was paid $30,000 until last October for consulting services, stakeholder engagement and helping the transition to her April 2015-hired successor, Nicole Seguin. Seguin’s partner, Jacob Hunter, is a former Vision Vancouver data and voter targeting manager and ex-organizer of Vancouver’s annual 4/20 marijuana-promotion festival.
Other highlights:
• $15,000 paid to Mark Vonesch for video production services from July to December. Vonesch is director of the Tides Canada-funded Reel Youth and was a Vision Vancouver election campaign cameraman in 2014. He was also paid $10,000 by the Mayor’s Office in a Dec. 31, 2014 contract;
• $14,498.75 paid to Digital Handloom, a company co-owned by failed Vision Vancouver park board candidate Naveen Girn, for community outreach;
• $14,250 paid to Oglov Business Development for six months of strategic planning services. Owner Linda Oglov has enjoyed $310,000 worth of no-bid contracts over five years.
• $12,000 paid to Catherine Chan for strategic community relations, outreach support and Chinese media monitoring;
• $10,125 paid to Heather Libby for social media, graphic design and communication services;
• $9,100 paid to Social Signal for writing Robertson’s speeches at four events: swearing-in, Economic Club of Toronto, Urban Land Institute and Canada 2020;
• $5,975 paid to Katelyn McDougall for four research reports, including a Dec. 31, 2015 payment for a report called “Australia’s Approach to Regulating Foreign Investment.”
• $5,000 paid to Sussex Consulting for event and communications services for Robertson’s November 2015 visit to Ottawa and $1,415 paid to Gzowski Films for shooting Robertson’s speech at the Canada 2020 convention and his reception at the Moscow Tea Room in Ottawa.
Also, Backyard Creative billed $1,600 for graphic design of Vision’s “Renewable by 2050” energy strategy. A March 25 blog by its principal, Lisa Hemingway, said she moved to Nanaimo because of Vancouver’s high housing costs and now commutes to Vancouver meetings by seaplane or ferry.
The Mayor’s Office’s second-biggest line item for 2015 was travel at $69,121.88 — a substantial increase from $13,053.88 in 2014. Other expenses included: $9,443.53 for food and drinks, $6,365.59 for miscellaneous supplies and services, $1,518.24 for taxi fares and $1,046.25 for advertising.
Robertson’s deputy chief of staff and spokesman Kevin Quinlan did not immediately respond for comment.
