Mayor Rob Ford has struck a three-person panel that will nominate the seven citizen board-members of the beleaguered Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
On Tuesday morning, he announced that Councillor Paul Ainslie, Mary L. Flynn-Gugliett and Bahadur Madhani would form a nomination panel for the board positions.
Canada's largest affordable-housing provider has been in turmoil since the city's auditor-general lambasted it for lavish spending and inappropriate purchasing practices in two reports made public Feb. 28.
Mr. Ford asked the entire 13-member board to resign the day the audits were released.
Seven citizen board members agreed, as did two of the four councillors on the board, Frances Nunziata and John Parker.
Councillors Raymond Cho and Maria Augimeri refused, along with two elected tenant representatives. A council vote eventually ousted the remaining members and installed Case Ootes, a former councillor and Ford ally, as the sole person in charge of the $6-billion corporation.
A news release from the mayor said that the panel will review applications and conduct interviews for the citizen positions before presenting recommendations to City Council on June 14.
"All three members have a number of years' experience in municipal affairs and have contributed to many community organizations," Mr. Ford said in the statement. "Their diverse experience will provide great assistance to Council in helping appoint the seven citizen members to the TCHC Board."
Ms. Flynn-Gugliettis is a lawyer specializing in municipal issues, land-use planning and the environment.
Mr. Madhani is a former Chair of the YMCA of Greater Toronto and a member of the Order of Canada.
Best known among the trio is Mr. Ainslie, a City Council member for six years and current chair of the Government Management Committee.
Patrick White