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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, D ec em be r 19 ,2 01 9 | 4 Pre-order your fresh Baked Breads & Buns!Pre-order your fresh Baked Breads & Buns!Pre-order your fresh Baked Breads & Buns! Everything you need for a British Christmas! www.mi l l e rssco t t i shbakery.com 905877-0596330 Guelph St Georgetown Miller's Scottish Bakery Holiday Hours: Mon 23rd 12:00-5, Tues 24th 9:30-4:00,25th, 26th & 27th CLOSED, 28th-30th Regular, 31st 10-4, Jan 1st -2nd CLOSED We are now taking orders for Christmas and Hogmanay!! 1 Halton Hills Drive, Halton Hills, L7G 5G2 | 905-873-2601 | 1-877-712-2205 | haltonhills.ca Town of Halton Hills has submitted a request for an amendment to Cemetery By-law 2012-0082 (Municipal Cemeteries By-law) to the Bereavement Authority of Ontario. The amendments comply with the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002 that came into effect in July 2012. The major changes to the municipal by-law include: • Incorporating Hillcrest Cemetery in Norval into the Town's Cemetery By-law • Clarifying specifications for Monuments and Markers In addition, the existing by-law has been updated to reflect current operational practices such as supplemental definitions, interest calculation, refunds within the contract cooling off period, and buying back unused lots from an Interment Rights Holder. The Town's by-law amendments are not in effect until approved by the Registrar of the Bereavement Authority of Ontario. Copies of the draft by-law are available at the Halton Hills Town Hall, Recreation and Parks Department (lower level) located at 1 Halton Hills Drive or by visiting the Town's website at haltonhills.ca/cemeteries until January 31, 2020. Notice of Revision - Municipal Cemeteries By-law nearly $500,000 in total of Sirron invoices to the Re- ceiver General of Canada because the Canada Reve- nue Agency had obtained a garnishment order against the company. The report found evi- dence Norris provided kick- backs to Ohashi that alleg- edly included cash pay- ments of $41,000 and $11,200 (U.S.), as well as travel, elec- tronics and tickets. According to a text mes- sage exchange in April 2011, Norris allegedly hid part of one kickback payment in a washroom stall. "When u get here use washroom - $$ are under toilette paper roll on top of garbage can," Nor- ris texted Ohashi. On other occasions, ac- cording to the report, pay- ments were allegedly mailed directly to Ohashi's home. Included in the report are several instances where Ohashi allegedly manipu- lated the tendering process to the advantage of a hand- picked company or helped alter the terms of a contract to provide benefits to a com- pany. For example, the report suggests Ohashi succeeded in having certain minimum requirements added to the tender for the provision of ozone equipment for the Burloak Water Purification Plant, which disqualified competitors to the company he wanted to obtain the con- tract. The report shows the main company that ended up providing the ozone equipment and a second smaller company hired to service the equipment were both represented by the same person, a New Jersey man whose listed business address appears to be his home. The report also alleg- es there were instances when the New Jersey man provided kickbacks to Ohashi. Ironically, the report points out, there was no need for a service contract for the ozone equipment be- cause the company that supplied it was supposed to maintain and repair its own equipment. In text messages from 2012 with a Halton Region co-op student, Ohashi told her how the New Jersey company rep would fly to Buffalo and stay in Niagara Falls. "I meet him Friday nights ... then ... And then golf Saturday mornings be- fore he flies back," Ohashi texted. "Ah man, u got me confessing too many se- crets... you have (too) much blackmail material now." When the forensic ac- countants looked into de- tails of the service invoices from the New Jersey com- panies for the ozone equip- ment, they found evidence of suspicious activity. Each water plant is re- quired to maintain an oper- ations log that notes the presence of external suppli- ers and contractors. On 24 occasions between 2005 and 2010, Halton was billed a total of $248,000 (U.S.) for service calls but there is no record that any- one from the New Jersey companies actually visited the water purification plants based on the logs. Between 2005 and 2009, one of the New Jersey com- panies billed Halton $120,000 (U.S.) for "remote monitor- ing" of the ozone systems, the report states, but years later the region learned from another high-ranking manager that the ozone sys- tems weren't even set up to be monitored remotely. The report also found 41 invoices totalling $91,000 (U.S.) submitted to the re- gion by one of the New Jer- sey companies for travel ex- penses, but not one of the travel claims had any sup- porting documentation or receipts. In at least one case, Ohashi is alleged to have en- gaged in what's known as "hard spec'ing" equipment for certain projects. Hard spec'ing refers to the prac- tice of requiring general contractors on a project to use very specific pieces of equipment, which can then benefit the suppliers of that equipment. In another case, a service contract was to be adver- tised for tender but Ohashi only contacted one compa- ny to bid on it. Then he sent an email to a Halton Region colleague alerting him that only one company ended up submitting a bid. The investigative report found "numerous instanc- es" where Ohashi would blind copy certain suppliers and contractors on email messages he was exchang- ing with other region em- ployees. This would give the suppliers and contractors knowledge of potentially sensitive information about projects and tenders. In the wake of the Ohashi case, Halton Region states it has "conducted an extensive review of its processes and procedures, updated its em- ployee and vendor codes of conduct and implemented mandatory training to iden- tify and report fraudulent behaviour." Two companies named in the report are still among the approved companies on Halton Region's most re- cently published list of pre- qualified suppliers and con- tractors. The Spectator has elect- ed to not name the compa- nies because they have not been charged with any criminal offences. Halton states it has re- viewed its list of vendors "and has taken appropriate action and cannot comment any further due to ongoing legal proceedings." LOCAL Continued from page 2 REGION SAYS IT HAS UPDATED EMPLOYEE, VENDOR CODES OF CONDUCT