Surrey city Councillor Mike Bose says he's "more than shocked" Surrey's general manager of finance told him to file a Freedom of Information request if he wants information on a real estate and development advisory firm from Chicago and its contracts with the City of Surrey concerning the Cloverdale fairgrounds and a possible arena for the city centre.
"Being told to file an FOI application is a real slap in the face," Bose said. "City councillors need to know everything there is to know about our city and its business, and this ridiculous roadblock tells me I've hit a nerve, and someone doesn't want taxpayers to know what's going on between the City of Surrey and the Hunden Partners of Chicago.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Surrey's finance manager Kam Grewal could not be immediately reached for comment.
On Monday afternoon the City of Surrey's communications department emailed this on behalf of the finance department: "The City has established processes for Council Members and the public to obtain information and documents. In some cases, Council Members may need to request an FOI to obtain information and documents. The nature of the documents sought determine the process that must be followed."
Bose noted in a press release issued March 17 that the City of Surrey engaged Hunden "to carry out stakeholder engagement for an arena, and long-term plans for the Cloverdale Fairground" and that he wants details about the number of contracts and their value. He said he was told the information he's seeking is not available to the public and that he should apply for it through FOI.
"Instead of getting the information I asked for, I was told I should file an FOI request, which completely floored me," Bose remarked. "City councillors are elected by Surrey voters, and access to information, all the information, is a vital part of what we need to do our jobs effectively. As part of our job, we hear and see confidential information every day."
Bose told the Now-Leader he's seeking the information in his capacity as a city councillor, elected in 2022. He said some of the information he's requesting came up in a closed council session last year that he attended but didn't take notes. "I wanted to refresh my memory. I thought that was my job."
What's he hunting for?
"I was looking for details what the contract was," Bose told the Now-Leader on Monday. "It all stems from threats made by the U.S. It's consulting; it's around the arena (possible new arena in city centre). We talk about buy Canadian, we want everybody to buy Canadian and here we have a contract with an American company. Now at the time we started this it was before the November election and I have no problem with the fact that we entered into an agreement with them at the time; it's just where we're at right now. We are being threatened on a daily basis by the administration to the south – they're threatening our sovereignty, they're threatening our economy and we need to lead by example.
Bose noted there are "plenty of credible and talented firms in B.C. and Canada who can do this work going forward, and under today's reality City Hall should be buying locally whenever possible, something we are encouraging our own residents to do. Sending Surrey tax dollars to Chicago just isn't on, particularly now."
Bose's fellow Surrey First Councillor Linda Annis noted that all council members are "privy to sensitive and confidential information and asking a councillor to submit a FOI request makes absolutely no sense.
"I think Councillor Bose is right, something about this just doesn't sit right, and this bureaucratic roadblock to keep information from an elected councillor should concern every Surrey resident and taxpayer," she said. "I also agree that as a city we should be doing everything we can to buy locally."
Meantime, another "opposition" councillor, Councillor Doug Elford (Safe Surrey Coalition) says he went through the same deal after finding out Locke's chief of staff Kristy Wawryk (who served as her campaign manager) got a raise.
"And so I asked how much? And staff says it's probably more appropriate if you FOI it. And I said, well, why can't I just get that information? That was a couple months ago."
He said the staffer who told him to do an FOI request was Joey Brar, Surrey's general manager of corporate services.
Elford said he took Brar's advice and learned that Surrey's director of public affairs and intergovernmental affairs Harry Kooner's was paid $180,000 last year and this year he's making $210,000. "Kristy was 'SOF'd-in' (Statement of Financial Information) at $125,000; this year she's at $167,000."
"When we ask for information as councillors, if it's information that pertains in the case of the budget coming up, it should be made available to us," Elford told the Now-Leader, "but staff are afraid to reveal things.
"It's just the way this regime works," he said. "This is privileged information that councillors should be made aware of. But there seems to be this culture there that if, you know, it's not going to please the mayor staff are scared to death to, they force you to FOI it.
"Obviously they're afraid for their jobs but if we FOI it then then they're forced to give it to us."
Brar confirmed that he advised Elford a few months back that if he wanted to know Wawryk’s salary he would have to submit an FOI.
"The reason being that Ms. Wawryk, while paid by the City, is outside of the City’s Administration as she is employed by the Mayor’s Office," Brar explained in an email. "We have received requests similar to this in the past and we have treated them in the same fashion."
