The ghosts of Urbacons past continue to haunt the chambers of Guelph City Council.
City council is proposing to change the city's rules to make sure council has final say in any significant contracts cancelled by the city's Chief Administrative Officer.
Under a proposed amendment to the CAO by-law, the CAO would have to "secure formal direction from City Council prior to the cancellation of any capital projects classified as Tier 1 or 2."
Those would be contracts valued at over $1 million.
Monday night council voted to defer the matter until June so that further information could be gathered.
But it was clear from the start that the amendment stems from the Urbacon lawsuit that cost the city $6.6 million dollars in a legal settlement after a contract with the builder to build the new city hall was cancelled.
"Urbacon. Let's put it right out there, because that's what this amendment is about," councillor Leanne Piper said.
Mayor Cam Guthrie, who is pushing the change, was even more blunt.
"I believe that the CAO and the former Mayor knew what was going on with Urbacon," Guthrie said.
City CAO Ann Pappert, who was not the CAO during when that contract was cancelled, said it was "unusual" for council to take on the responsibility of canceling contracts.
She said staff would come back with more information and best practices on making such a move.
"This is the best practice for Guelph," Guthrie responded.
It was pointed out that council can already cancel contracts if it wishes. This move was about not allowing the CAO cancel large contracts without council's approval.
Councillor Karl Wettstein warned councillors "this is not an insignificant change" and that council should get a better understanding of the risks of such a move, particularly as it pertained to council liability.
"I'm far from comfortable" this is the right move, Wettstein said. "There's a whole range of liabilities involved and a whole range of risk involved."
Wettstein said he was "getting quite tired" of Urbacon being used as a "political football."
The issue comes back to council June 13.
