Aurora Council has unanimously approved the appointment of former Markham ward councillor and Progressive Conservative Cabinet Minister David Tsubouchi as the town’s new Integrity Commissioner.
The nod was given at last Tuesday's General Committee meeting.
Mayor Phyllis Morris and Councillors Evelyn Buck and Alison Collins-Mrakas were absent from the session.
The appointment of Mr. Tsubouchi was met with high praise from councillors.
"I'm very, very pleased to hear of our choice for the new Integrity Commissioner," said Councillor Wendy Gaertner. "I think the gentleman has amazing credentials."
While Councillor Al Wilson said he initially questioned the timing of the appointment in the middle of an election year, Mr. Tsubouchi's credentials won him over.
"There are two ways in my mind to look at this," Councillor Wilson told town staff at the meeting.
"One could look at this [as] our term is nearly over. Is it appropriate we are appointing someone who will take a new council six months into [his] term?
"The other side that I struggled with is...is it not appropriate to have one for the balance of our term? I am committed to the process so it is a difficult point in time. However, when I read the report and saw what the recommendation is, I think Mr. Tsubouchi, his credentials, reputation, his knowledge, his background...any municipality should be honoured to have an individual like that protecting them."
The final approval of Mr. Tsubouchi depends on a finalized agreement between the town and Mr. Tsubouchi, the intricacies of which are still being fine tuned.
While Mr. Tsubouchi's one-year contract has a limit of $60,000, it is entirely dependent on usage.
"It may certainly be less," said Aurora Chief Administrative Officer Neil Garbe.
Staff working on the contract have a tentative start date for Mr. Tsubouchi as July this year.
The term will last for a period of one year from the actual signing date.
Council will also have the opportunity to extend Mr. Tsubouchi's contract by two one-year periods.
One of the issues that arose from Tuesday's meeting was the issue of who the Integrity Commissioner would report to.
Town Solicitor Christopher Cooper encouraged council to "resolve to include in the Code of Conduct some sort of contingency whereby if it happened that the individual so designated under the code was away, then an alternate could be designated to receive it."