A $51,000 proposal to hire an outside consultant to review Chatham-Kent’s encampment response is headed to council Monday, but administration says it breaks the municipality’s purchasing rules.
Councillor Michael Bondy is presenting his motion to hire OrgCode Consulting Inc. to provide an encampment response proposal for Chatham-Kent. The company traditionally works with governments, non-governmental organizations, and non-profits design and improve homelessness programs.
“They seem to have a good perspective as to what’s happening with homeless problems throughout the United States, Canada, Australia so they have a pretty good track record,” said Bondy.
In administration’s response, Chief Financial Officer Gord Quinton says the notice of motion should not be considered as a sole source, writing “it is known that several consultants are in this field. Normally at Council’s direction, staff would prepare a set of requirements and outcomes and put together a tender or request for proposals package for all consultants in this field to bid on, in a competitive process.”
An option the Ward 6 representative is not opposed to.
“I just want neutral outside eyes to come in and take a look at what we are doing because there’s too many egos and politics involved. It’s a very hot topic,” said Bondy.
Councillor Bondy told CKXS News that OrgCode is able to present a deputation at Monday’s meeting, but will not be given the opportunity to field questions from council members.
“I asked if they could give a presentation to council but that was denied,” explained Bondy.
General Manager of Health and Human Services, Jodi Guilmette, writes in their response to the notice of motion, that municipal staff “relied heavily on the work of expert Iain De Jong, President and CEO of Org Code. Many of the team’s policies and procedures were based on his research, his book, and similar resources.” This led to Chatham-Kent’s first version of the encampment policy approved by council in 2024.
“We had a very small homelessness problem five years ago,” said Bondy. “But it’s like obviously ballooned, it’s exploded so we are a little out of our league, and that’s fine let’s look for help.”