City councillors expressed amazement Monday at the most recent revelations of questionable spending by former Windsor Public Library CEO Barry Holmes, and they’re demanding answers on his background.
“How did he get hired here? With that record — God!” Ward 9 Coun. Hilary Payne said Monday night.
On the weekend, the Victoria Times-Colonist revealed that Holmes racked up corporate credit card bills exceeding $131,000 in less than four years as CEO of the Greater Victoria Public Library before being “terminated without cause” and paid $43,000 in severance. Hired in Windsor a short time later, he racked up more than $67,000 on his library credit card for everything from iTunes and fancy meals to groceries and antiques before abruptly departing earlier this year.
“Something you look for are letters of reference,” said Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac, who has been on school board executive search committees.
Ward 4 Coun. Alan Halberstadt, chairman of the library board when it hired Holmes, was unavailable for comment Monday night but said previously that “due diligence” was followed in his hiring.
“I think a lot of taxpayers’ dollars have gone out the door,” said Gignac, who is a current library board member. She’s not confident any of the taxpayer money spent by Holmes will ever be returned.
“The policy that was in place allowed him to do that,” she said of a system that had Holmes approving Maghnieh’s spending, and vice versa. “We’ve tightened that policy,” said Gignac. Corporate credit cards are no longer allowed within the WPL.
Ward Meeting
Tonight, Ward 10 Coun. Al Maghnieh hosts his first constituency gathering since the library spending scandal in which he was at the centre erupted last spring.
The meeting, one 10 ward gatherings across the city aimed at getting citizen input on neighborhood issues, starts at 6:30 p.m. in the lower level of the Nikola Budimir Library, 1310 Grand Marais W.
Maghnieh was library board chairman when an audit uncovered thousands of dollars in inappropriate personal spending on a corporate credit card issued to him by then-CEO Barry Holmes. The city’s integrity commissioner described as “reckless” the credit card misuse by Maghnieh, who resisted calls from colleagues to resign from city council.
dschmidt@windsorstar.com or 519-255-5586
