A debate over a perceived conflict of interest has surfaced in the Township of Langley, after a councillor’s business won a bid to cater a Township event.
In a letter to council dated Oct. 2, Coun. Kim Richter outlined several reasons why she is concerned that Coun. Angie Quaale’s company, Well Seasoned, was used to cater the 2017 farm tour on Sept. 20 and asked for a second legal opinion on the matter.
“In my opinion, this whole situation just does not meet the ‘smell test,’ regardless of people’s intentions,” Richter wrote.
“I think that there are several issues surrounding this whole matter that need to be further investigated, clarified, and resolved so that situations like this will not happen again in the future — not the least of which is any taint of ‘insider information or preference’ that could hamper local businesses from willingly participating in future Township bids.”
However, Quaale says that the undertaking was legal and “nothing wrong happened.”
“It was a fair process, it was an open bid process as was confirmed by Township lawyers,” Quaale told the Times. “Nothing untoward happened, nothing wrong happened.”
According to a Sept. 27 memo from staff, Well Seasoned was chosen to cater the farm tour over competitors Black Radish Catering (Fat Cow and Oyster Bar) and Osso Lunch Room, due to its lower cost and ability to source produce and products from the Township.
The Black Radish Catering quote came in at $2,059, while Well Seasoned came in at $1,453.76, the memo states.
The theme of the farm tour and select hosts — Vista D’oro Farms, GoJoy Berries Farm, Fraser Valley Cider Company and Central Park Farms — were chosen by a sub-committee of the Agricultural Advisory and Economic Enhancement Committee (AAEEC).
As far as the Township’s legal team is concerned, Quaale is not in a conflict of interest.
“A municipal councillor may not participate in discussions, attend a meeting or vote on a matter that may affect the councillor’s pecuniary interest. If a councillor does not declare the pecuniary interest and votes on the matter, they are said to have a conflict of interests,” said Olga Rivkin of Lidstone &Company in a Sept. 28 letter to the Township.
“To trigger the conflict of interests, there must be a meeting at which the councillor participates or votes. This can be a meeting of Council, a committee, a board or variance, or another panel or board. If there is no meeting, there is no conflict of interests.
“In this instance, there appears to have been no meeting to trigger the conflict of interests. Councillor Qualle [sic] is not a member of the AAEEC; she did not participate in the AAECC’s [sic] (or its sub-committee’s) caterer selection process; and she did not vote on the choice of the caterer.”
However, Richter, who is council co-chair on the AAEEC, believes “there are some key inaccuracies and information gaps” in the staff memo. In particular, she said the sub-committee had no involvement in deciding on caterers or catering criteria — this was done by staff — and only one of the farms they suggested made it on the tour.
She also said that initial quotes from Black Radish were $28 per person for the lunch, whereas Well Seasoned was $35 per person.
“Why didn’t this end here with the selection of the low bid?” she wrote.
Another area of concern for Richter has to do with a Township promotional video themed “farm to table,” which she said shows clips of a Well-Seasoned employee, along with clips of the different farm owners. Richter requested that the Well Seasoned clips be removed from any promotional materials for the duration of Quaale’s tenure on council.
“It would seem to me that taxpayer funds being used to promote and pay a sitting councillor’s business is in fact a conflict of interest. Both the councillor in question and staff should have known better,” Richter wrote.
“And if the ‘meeting’ criteria really does hold as the sole criteria to define a conflict, then the Farm Tour could be seen to be a ‘meeting’ and ‘Person C’ was present at that meeting because she was on that bus when the video was shown to 44 people and those 44 people also saw the chef cooking the chicken at the Fraser Valley Cider Company wearing a Well Seasoned badge.”
Meanwhile, Quaale believes that Richter is “trying to micromanage.”
“Councillor Richter demanded all of the background information from staff as well as the legal opinion. I have no idea how much it’s going to cost her, but I expect it will probably cost taxpayers of Langley $10,000 to figure out how we spent $1,200,” she said.
“Langley is grappling with real issues like crime, homelessness, legalization, tax rates and about a million other things, I’m surprised to learn that Kim Richter thinks the considerable staff time and financial resources she already requested be utilized on this ‘investigation’ can’t be better used elsewhere in our community.
“We hire staff to do all of the things she is trying to micromanage…. Our staff are consummate professionals that know the rules and follow them. She had a concern, it was addressed by staff and a lawyer, presented to council and council was satisfied.”
Because of the pecuniary interests, under the Community Charter the contract was made public at the Oct. 2 afternoon council meeting, where council was asked to receive a copy of the 2017 farm tour catering memo. Richter was absent from that meeting, and Quaale excused herself from the room.
Little discussion was had, but Township CAO Mark Bakken did say that Richter sent in a notice of motion on the topic for council’s Oct. 23 meeting.
miranda@langleytimes.com
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Pages From 2017 Farm Tour Catering Memo by Miranda Gathercole on Scribd
Richter Letter to Council Oct. 2 by Miranda Gathercole on Scribd
Legal Opinion by Miranda Gathercole on Scribd