By Pepper Parr
June 29th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
We are beginning to get a tighter look at that mess with the allocation of swimming time in city pools
To recap the Burlington Aquatic Devilrays (BAD) submitted the documents required to prove that they were a not-for-profit organization and that 85% of their membership lived in Burlington
The swimming club was told that the documents did not meet the requirements.
The Devilrays asked for a review of the decision.
The review took place.
Same decision – they didn’t qualify.
The paperwork and what appears to be the level at which the decisions were made was handled by Melissa Mordue, CPPO, CPPB – Manager, Procurement Services for the city.
The CPPB certification is designed for non-supervisory procurement professionals who handle essential functions within the procurement cycle.
CPPO – Certified Public Procurement Officer
The designations at least suggest the person doing the work was qualified.
Then why were there so many mistakes made?
Our understanding is that lawyers have been brought in who are asking for a Judicial Review and an Injunction that puts a halt on everything until a Judge has reviewed all the documents, listened to all the testimony and rendered a decision.
Everyone is asking – who at City Hall dropped the ball on this one? Or was the ball even handed over to someone higher up the food chain?
We don’t think Hassaan Basit had told the Mayor about his plan to leave the city and begin working at Queen’s Park when this became an issue. We are trying to put together a timeline to get a fix on who did what when.
The Burlington communications have this nasty habit of releasing bad news late on Friday afternoons – on a holiday weekend if that’s possible.
Last Friday was one of those days from hell for Mayor Meed Ward – she had the swimming pool space allocation issue blow up and the CAO handing in the keys to his office on the same day.
The Mayor has taken the position that she is not permitted to involve herself in procurement matters, which seems to include not asking the CAO to look into the concerns citizens have.
With a municipal election less than 15 months away one wonders if the next city council is going to look any different.
Pepper – I enjoy reading your inside City Hall reporting. It is unclear in this report if you have reviewed the documents actually submitted by BAD to satisfy yourself that the requirements were met. Or does the story merely report BAD’s claims that the documents met the criteria.
Editor’s note: The documents are seen as CONFIDENTIAL by the city once they are received.
Pepper…publicizing the names of politician’s involved in City decisioning is one thing – they have ‘thick-skin’ given they know what they signed up for and the associated level of scrutiny! That said, making public the name of a civil servant just doing their job (who, I assume was following City policy) is beyond the pale! Please do the right thing and edit her name out of this article. Thank-you.
Michael – I disagree. I was a public servant for 32+ years and always regarded transparency as fundamental to accountability. I was involved in disputes and conflicts concerning my program area and was called upon to be the spokesperson. This was an understood part of the job.
BTW, the “civil servant” involved is a Manager, has a host of impressive credentials and – most importantly – is off on vacation. I only hope that she will be available next week to answer questions when this issue comes before the Committee of the Whole.
Years ago while vacationing in Palm Springs CA, i received a parking ticket that was not justified. I appealed the ticket to the issuing authority to rescind the ticket and lost the appeal. I then wrote to the Mayor who took the time to listen to me and who took the time to review my case. The charge was reversed and I received a personal letter from the Mayor thanking me for vacationing in his city. Morale of the story, a Mayor is elected by the people for the people and passing the buck falls short on representation.No one is asking the Mayor to reverse the decision, but she should at least ask a few questions and the decision tree for not granting the contract to BAD.