The police budget has been settled but the fallout from the nine month dispute is only beginning.
On Thursday, the Police Services Board said it will launch an investigation into the actions of senior city hall leadership to determine if a potential budget resolution was intentionally suppressed back in February.
Back in the spring, CTV News reported about the offer -- which at the time was news to many city councillors.
Now the board aims to find out what happened.
"I would like to have an understanding, I think this board deserves an understanding," says Police Services Board Chair Paul Paolatto.
The investigation will examine a potential budget compromise Paolotto says was reached between himself and the city treasurer in late February but was never presented to city council for consideration.
"I don't think this needs to be a difficult process. There are four or five people who need to be spoken to and it could be resolved quickly," says Paolatto.
On March 1, the treasurer informed Paolatto that the compromise failed to receive the necessary support for it to proceed to council.
Who among city hall's top leadership made that decision without council's knowledge will be at heart of the investigation.
The mayor supported the probe, saying it was up to the police board to send an offer letter to the city clerk.
"The simple answer is this wasn't brought forward through those means," says Matt Brown.
Thursday, the mayor had a greater recollection of that compromise offer than he did when asked by CTV News back in April.
"I am not aware of any specific situation that could have come to council," Brown said then.
"Yeah, I was made aware of a potential opportunity that council could pursue, it involved assessment funds, I wasn't made aware of all the details," claimed Brown on Thursday.
In April, councillors were frustrated about not being made aware of a potential compromise that could have avoided the budget appeal, an appeal the police board spent $70,000 preparing.
"Is it fair to say you kept council in the dark about a potential resolution?" asked Daryl Newcombe.
"I don't think so. I think I was presented with the information as the mayor. I was asked if I would champion it, I said no I was not supportive of its direction," said Brown.
Paolatto went on the challenge the actions, or more specifically the inactions of the city manager's office to try to resolve the budget dispute earlier in the year.
"One of the frustrations we had was we had a very difficult time with the CAO's office," says Paolatto.
Paolatto intends to send a letter to city council and the police board detailing the difficulty he and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission had communicating with the city manager's office over the past nine months.
"Eight no responses, these are independently verifiable events that occurred that i think contributed greatly to some of the frustrations we felt," says Paolotto.
City manager Art Zuidema responded by email stating, "I am not familiar with the discussions today and therefore I am not in position to comment."
"I will want to look at the communication that Mr. Paolatto was referring to, I can tell you council was focused on resolving this throughout the process," says Brown.
It's important to emphasize the investigation is not criminal in nature but one to uncover what happened.
Until more details are known, it's not clear if there will be any consequences.
The chief will determine the appropriate person or organization to conduct the probe and report back to the police board next month.
