Gateway-gate: the mayor keeps it positive

The City of Sault Ste. Marie remains on very good terms with the Toronto developer who withdrew his interest in developing the Gateway lands, Mayor Christian Provenzano says.

“I can tell you that we left our relationship with the developer very positively,” Provenzano told City Council last night, referring to Paolo Rovazzi from the Markham-based Canadian office of North American Development Group.

“We had a positive meeting with the developer and I am satisfied that the developer is interested in doing business here and is going to continue to look here,” the mayor said.

“If he comes to the city with a viable project, and it’s a project that’s consistent with the city’s interest, we’ll certainly move forward. All, in all, this was something that started difficultly but ended on a positive note.”

Through his lawyer, Rovazzi served notice to the city last week that “in light of recent events” he’s no longer interested in pursuing the Gateway development “at the present time.”

Those events included allegations that two members of the development team Rovazzi brought to City Council two weeks ago had criminal backgrounds.

One of them, Shaun Rootenberg, had recently worked at Algoma Public Health as interim chief financial officer.

Kim Barker, the health unit’s chief executive officer and medical officer of health, resigned last week after revelations about Rootenberg’s history of past fraud convictions with losses exceeding $2 million.

North American Development Group is a reputable company and the city has no issues with it, Mayor Provenzano said last night.
 
“The developer specifically indicated to me that he really appreciated how he was received by the city. It was his opinion that the City of Sault Ste. Marie would be a great place to do business.”

“It was his opinion that he wanted to develop in the City of Sault Ste. Marie. He was looking at other projects.”

Meanwhile. City Council passed the following resolution last night, demanding answers from Algoma Public Health about the Rootenburg fiasco:

*************************
Mover : Councillor S. Myers

Seconder : Councillor M. Shoemaker

Whereas Algoma Public Health is an important community health agency and partner in our municipality; and

Whereas Algoma Public Health receives substantial municipal funding; and

Whereas the mayor and council appoint three directors to the board of Algoma Public Health; and

Whereas the mayor and council are concerned about recent reports regarding the interim chief financial officer of Algoma Public Health who may have misrepresented his identity, and is reported to have been convicted of criminal offences for fraudulent activity; and

Whereas the mayor and council are responsible for acting in the best interest of the community, and responsible for the expenditure of municipal dollars;

Now therefore be it resolved that the mayor and council ask the Board of Health for Algoma Public Health for a report confirming:

• That the board of Algoma Public Health has hired a qualified auditor to investigate, confirm and report on the integrity of Algoma Public Health’s financial records during the period of time that Algoma Public Health contracted with or otherwise employed the interim chief financial officer; and
• What steps are being or have been taken by the board of Algoma Public Health to ensure that no employee information was accessed, obtained or retained by the interim chief financial officer; and
• What process was followed in retaining the services of the interim chief financial officer and if a new process is proposed, what deficiencies in the previous process have been identified and how have said deficiencies been addressed;

Further that the information requested herein be provided to City Council by way of a formal report being presented to City Council at the first meeting of City Council following said report being received by the board of Algoma Public Health.

*************************

(PHOTO: Paolo Rovazzi is pictured at the Civic Centre in this file photo)