the office de consultation publique de montréal has abolished the position of secretary general and replaced it with an office manager as part of its rebuilding process following last fall’s expense scandal .
in late july, the ocpm hired a montreal civil servant , marie-andrée l’espérance, with nearly 10 years of service as office manager. l’espérance, who had worked most recently as a division chief for the outremont borough, is well-versed in the city’s administrative processes and governance rules, bourke said.
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city council initially appointed bourke on an interim basis in december with a mandate to restore order after revelations that past and present ocpm managers expensed costly equipment, trips and dinners to the city for years. the revelations led council to fire then-president isabelle beaulieu and order an audit of the office.
one of bourke’s first acts as interim president was to fire then-secretary general guy grenier .
as the gazette had reported in december , grenier, as secretary general since january 2023, had the use of three city-issued credit cards while also acting as the ocpm employee responsible for approving the charges on them and the charges on the president’s credit card. his predecessor had a city-issued credit card in his name, as did each president, along with a generic credit card for general use by the ocpm.
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the ocpm’s next task is to submit a plan to the city this month that will detail how it will address the recommendations in the auditor general’s scathing report in june that found a lack of internal controls and management rules throughout the ocpm’s 20-year history.