Coun. Mike McCann says he anticipated backlash about the finances surrounding donations to his Heart Barrie landmark sign.
“If you don’t think I knew this day was coming … I didn’t think it would be this soon,” he said. “I have done zero wrong.”
McCann released a statement Wednesday in response to unspecified allegations about the sign, which is to be located at Heritage Park and ready for July 1.
The Ward 10 councillor raised $200,000 for the sign’s construction. Of that, $5,000 was from an individual and $195,000 from a company called Heart Barrie.
But numbers in a May 30 memo to Barrie councillors lists 12 $20,000 sponsors, 11 $10,000 sponsors and five $5,000 sponsors. That totals $375,000 raised for the $200,000 landmark sign.
On June 28, 2021, city council passed a motion that any funds raised on top of the $200,000 for the Heart Barrie sign, where no donation receipts have been issued, be donated to save-the-beaver and save-the-turtle programs in the city.
But on Wednesday, McCann could not tell BarrieToday how much of the donated money would go toward saving beavers and turtles.
Or how much money was left over, after the sign was financed, that was not going to turtles and beavers.
“Not all sponsorship money has been collected. Still collecting,” he said, by way of explanation.
Why money is still being collected when the $200,000 is already raised went unanswered.
“My accounting firm has a separate division, once again separate from (McCann’s business) SunFlow and my personal accounts that is handling all the administration and all the accounting,” he said. “Everything is accounted for, all the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted.”
McCann said the Heart Barrie company is a private business and he’s its half-owner, but declined to identify the other owner. He did say it has a private harmonized sales tax (HST) number, totally separate from SunFlow, totally separate from his personal bank accounts.
“I talked to the director of finance, Craig Millar, at the City of Barrie, and asked him how we should go from A to B, A being the sponsors, B being the City of Barrie,” McCann said, “and he said instead of giving (from) ... 10, 20, 30, 100, you know, different sponsors, why don’t you open up a company and then just give one payment through that company with a separate HST number? So, I did exactly what Craig Millar, director of finance, directed me to do.”
BarrieToday showed McCann’s quote to Millar.
“I explained to Coun. McCann how the City of Barrie’s council approved donation policy works. Mainly the city issues donation receipts for funds the city receives,” Millar said. “I did not give any advice to Coun. McCann on how he proceeds with his donation collection or sponsorship methods.”
McCann was asked by BarrieToday if he had a potential conflict of interest — voting on a motion, to approve the Heart Barrie landmark sign, which involved a company in which he is a 50 per cent owner.
“I can check the dates … but I’m 99.999 per cent sure that I opened up the account (for Heart Barrie company) after the final decision was made (by council, to approve the Heart Barrie landmark sign),” he said. “I’m nearly positive I did (it) after the approval.”
Coun. Keenan Aylwin, who represents the downtown, where the sign will stand, did not return email and phone messages to BarrieToday on Wednesday.
But in March, he asked that McCann provide a list of donors to the Heart Barrie company to the city, and that staff at Access Barrie publish this list on the city’s Heart Barrie sign web page.
“I haven’t seen where these funds are coming though,” Aylwin said at the time. “They’ve been funnelled through a company called Heart Barrie and I just have some questions about …”
McCann interrupted.
“There is no funnelling of funds,” he said.
“I apologize for using the term if it offended,” said Aylwin, who does not support the landmark sign. “The funds plowed through, however you’d like to say it, came through the Heart Barrie company and I think the public should be aware of who’s donating, whether it’s companies who have dealings with the city or not, I think we need to be transparent about where those donations are coming from.”
A motion to that effect was passed by council.
The sign will be located in Heritage Park, directly on the entry axis to the downtown waterfront park, as people come across Simcoe Street from Meridian Place. Council has added $15,000 to the city’s operations department budget, beginning this year, to cover costs of potential graffiti removal and winter maintenance on and around the sign.
The project’s working group members have agreed the sign should be the city’s logo with the heart, and that the size of the heart should be increased from eight to 10 feet, which council approved. By making the heart that height, a person as tall as six feet can fit inside the heart for photos.
McCann has said this project is intended to unite Barrie — to help businesses by driving residents and visitors to the downtown and have them celebrate the city by being photographed with the landmark sign.
McCann’s full statement he released Wednesday is as follows:
“I have complied with all council’s direction all the way back to June 2021. As the memo states I have raised the full $200,000 for the Love (Heart) Barrie landmark sign. I also delivered the $200,000 on time. The sponsors and the level of sponsorship they are being recognized for, are outlined in the circulation memo on March 31, it does not reflect cash collected.
In addition, I will be complying with council’s additional direction as follows.
On June 28, 2021, Motion 21-G-187: Donations - Heart Barrie signage…that any funds raised on top of the $200,000 for the Heart Barrie signage where no donation receipts have been issued be donated to the save the beaver and save the turtle programs in the city.”
