By Laurie Watt

The City of Barrie has put a limit on what it will pay for Mayor Dave Aspden’s legal bills: the equivalent of 100 billable hours.

The Advance has obtained a copy of an Indemnification Agreement, signed June 15, between the city and Aspden, who at the time faced an Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services investigation and an OPP investigation relating to a trip he took to China with a developer.

The agreement, signed by Acting Mayor John Brassard (the acting mayor position changes each month), stipulates the costs of 100 billable hours must include all lawyers, paralegal and staff time.

“At the time (the Indemnification Agreement was signed), council knew we had exposure to unlimited legal bills under the Indemnification Bylaw and with the knowledge of Mr. (Morris) Manning’s hourly rate, we wanted to ensure that taxpayers were protected from the potential of significant legal bills,” said Brassard.

“The agreement that the mayor signed places a limit on how much of the legal bill taxpayers will have to pay for both the OCCPS and OPP issues. (It) has turned out to be pretty good foresight on our part, given the amount of the bills that have come in to date.”

The agreement does provide for the mayor to ask council’s permission to pay for expenses above and beyond the 100-hour limit.

“If he does not, then anything over the agreed-to amount will have to be paid out of his own pocket,” he added.

The OCCPS issue has been resolved; on Dec. 5, Aspden pleaded guilty to charges of misconduct.

Before the hearing began, his expenses were then estimated to be $10,000. His lawyer Morris Manning subsequently spent more than a day drafting a statement of facts about Aspden’s conduct and appearing before the quasi-judicial panel.

He admit to breaking the Code of Conduct for police services board members as contained in the Police Services Act when he asked a disciplinary hearing chairman to go easy on an officer found guilty of discreditable conduct. He did so in a letter on Mayor’s Office letterhead two days after he was elected police board chairman in January 2007.

The OPP investigation – started at city council’s request – continues, however. On April 30, council called in the OPP to investigate the mayor’s actions relating to a trip to China; last April. Aspden travelled with Mario Cortellucci, who owns land in Innisfil, to China, after having proposed a side deal during Barrie-Innisfil border talks.

At the time, his actions caused the talks to derail for several months.