Collingwood town council has voted to withdraw from the Ontario Municipal Water Association because its executive director, Ed Houghton, was judged guilty of a conflict of interest when he was Collingwood’s acting chief administrative officer.
At the time, he was also chief executive officer of Pollus Power Corporation. Collingwood held a half interest in that company.
Houghton was involved in negotiating its sale to Powerstream Incorporated in 2012 and using the proceeds to buy two Sprung buildings for the town’s recreation facilities.
The town called for a judicial inquiry which was led by Associate Chief Justice Frank Marrocco who found that Houghton was involved in “undisclosed conflicts, unfair procurements and lack of transparency (that) stained both transactions.”
