Steve Kent had city-hired consultant do personal work, says no cost to taxpayers

Mount Pearl's top bureaucrat, Steve Kent, used a city-hired consultant to do personal work for him related to his volunteer work with outside organizations — though Kent insists Mount Pearl taxpayers aren't on the hook for costs. 

The consultant in question is Bronda Aylward, a retired economic development manager with the city. Aylward is also a political supporter of Kent, and recorded a video endorsing Kent during his last political campaign.

Over a four-day span this summer, Kent sent Aylward dozens of emails so she could process two years of his personal expense claims.

The claims related to more than 20 trips he took for Big Brothers Big Sisters and Scouts Canada.

Records obtained through access to information show that much of that work was done at Mount Pearl city hall, using city computers and email addresses, during city business hours.

I have worked hard on behalf of the taxpayers of Mount Pearl for my entire career. I have never ever misused public resources, and I never will.- Steve Kent

Kent said Aylward volunteered to handle the claims, and she didn't bill for the hours worked on them.

"Not unlike thousands of volunteers in our community, I occasionally receive or send email related to my family or community involvements. I will continue to make every effort to restrict my email box to only work," Kent wrote in a statement to CBC News.

"I have worked hard on behalf of the taxpayers of Mount Pearl for my entire career. I have never ever misused public resources, and I never will. In fact, with the support of city council, I have worked tirelessly to improve how tax dollars are managed in the city, and our efforts have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings."

Aylward did invoice council for other hours worked during the time period she was handling Kent's expense claims, although there is no detailed breakdown.

It's not clear whether all of this is standard practice at Mount Pearl city hall, and in line with rules and regulations — specifically, whether consultants drawing a paycheque from council routinely do personal work for free to help out the people who hire them.

CBC News emailed every member of Mount Pearl city council last week, but none of them replied.

Instead the city issued a statement, with the condition that it not be attributed to the person who sent the email.

"The City of Mount Pearl is known for its community spirit, and we encourage and promote volunteerism in our community," the statement noted.

"Of course, the City of Mount Pearl does not condone use of city resources for anything other than city business. In this instance, there is no evidence to suggest that the volunteer activity in question has resulted in any cost to taxpayers."

'Offered to help'

Kent wouldn't do an interview, but sent a written statement explaining how Aylward ended up helping him file his personal expense claims.

"One day this past summer, the consultant walked into my office while I was sorting some financial records in order to complete some city expense reports. She offered to help quickly find the city documentation I was looking for," he wrote. 

"In doing so, she found some personal expense records that appeared to be related to some of my volunteer work. She then volunteered, on her own time, to help prepare the related expense reports. Taxpayers did not incur any cost whatsoever for this work."

Aylward — whose consulting invoices for work on city issues such as economic development, planning and permitting totalled more than $105,000 over a period of a year and a half — also wouldn't do an interview.

But in an email, Aylward provided a similar account of what happened.

"I did assist in finalizing some city expense documents and in so doing, batched receipts into categories, as some of Mr. Kent's personal receipts appeared to be related to his volunteer work," she wrote.

"Knowing how much work was on his plate, I volunteered and assisted Mr. Kent in his preparation of expense claims for two volunteer organizations [Kent was involved in], but I did not invoice the city for this time (approx. 3-4 hours). However, I did do some of this work while at city hall. The City of Mount Pearl did not incur any costs as a result."

The dozens of emails in question were mostly sent from Aug. 13 to Aug. 16, on weekdays during normal business hours.

On Aug. 15, Aylward invoiced the city for 37 hours of consulting services for the period June 2 through Aug. 14. 

She later invoiced the city for 41 hours of consulting services for the period Aug. 15-21.

The invoices to the city do not break down how those hours were calculated.

Aylward did not respond to a CBC News request for more details about the billing process.

Consultant was political supporter

Aylward is a former manager of economic development with Mount Pearl city council. She retired in 2014.

She is also a political supporter of Kent, and appeared in a YouTube video under the #StickWithSteve hashtag during the 2015 provincial election campaign, calling him a "role model" and an "inspiration." At the time, Kent was deputy premier and running for re-election in the district of Mount Pearl North. 

Months after Kent left elected office and took the job as chief administrative officer for the city, he sent Aylward an email offering to hire her as a consultant.

An initial four-week arrangement in March 2018 turned into sole-sourced consulting work that spanned about a year and a half.

Both Kent and the city lauded Aylward's work.

"Her engagement complied with the city's requirements for sole sourcing, with the knowledge and support of city council," Kent wrote.

"The consultant was selected for this work given her experience with the city, her familiarity with its operating environment, and, given the nature of the project, her reputation as a trusted and discrete retired senior employee of the City of Mount Pearl."

The statement from council noted that Aylward "has done excellent work for the city" assisting with a number of priority projects over the past year and a half. "She is not engaged in any projects at present," it noted.

Meanwhile, Kent has been on leave since early October, for unrelated reasons, after council called in an out-of-province labour lawyer to investigate allegations related to his workplace interactions with city staff.

See below for the full emails to CBC News from Steve Kent and Bronda Aylward 

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