I think one problem with the police board is that the appointees are inevitably so pro-police that no questioning is done at budget time.
New police board chair says she’s not there to make changes
http://www.thespec.com/news/crime/ar...o-make-changes
Nancy DiGregorio did not take the reins of Hamilton’s police board to make changes. But that’s because she believes in the way things are being run.
The former teacher, principal, school board trustee and volunteer became chair of the Hamilton Police Services Board on Jan. 17, more than four years after her September 2006 provincial appointment to the board.
“You don’t come in as chair to make changes, you come in to make absolutely sure you work closely with your chief, that you support your chief,” she said.
“And at the end of the day, we have the responsibility as a board … that public safety in our community is the top priority.”
For DiGregorio — who also recently became an Ontario Association of Police Services Board director — the role of the board is governance. That means overseeing policy, the budget and the chief, but not overseeing or interfering with police operations.
Last week, the board voted to stick to its request for a roughly 5 per cent budget increase, despite an unprecedented request from city council last month to cut it down.
Hamilton’s board is composed of three provincial appointees, three members of city council and one citizen appointed by city council. DiGregorio replaced Bruce Pearson, who sat as chair for one year. Prior to Pearson, Councillor Bernie Morelli spent the better part of 12 years as chair. The board is governed by the Police Services Act.
DiGregorio said upholding transparency is something important to the board. She pointed to the agendas and minutes posted on the police website, monthly public meetings and the fact that last year they began posting previously secret budgets online.
“There is no reason for any hidden agendas when you have an organization like this, which really works in the best interest of the safety of the community,” she said.
It’s the board’s job to hire the chief, the last one being Glenn De Caire, who started in 2009. He’s a leader DiGregorio believes in.
And the feeling is mutual.
“As a former educator and administrator with the school board and her work in the community, chair DiGregorio’s extensive experience and leadership with the Hamilton Police Services Board is making a positive contribution to public safety in our community,” De Caire said in an email.
The governance model adopted by most public boards, such as police, is to provide oversight, said Richard Powers, who teaches governance at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
The chair’s role is “not to be best friends with the chief” but it is also “not to undermine the authority vested in the chief,” he said, adding that the board should hold the chief accountable, but it’s the chief’s job to direct the police.
It’s something Patricia Bradshaw, an associate professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, calls “loyal opposition.”
There is no value in publicly shaming the leader, such as a chief of police, said Bradshaw, an expert in not-for-profit governance. If a board takes a leadership role, there’s no one to hold them accountable.
But Richard Leblanc, a York University associate professor of law, governance and ethics, said there is a tendency for heads of organizations to influence board chairs.
“The most important job of a chair is to set the agenda,” he said. And so the independence of the chair and a clear definition of the job is of utmost importance.
“To say your job is to support your chief, I’m not sure that the chair of any organization would say this,” Leblanc said.
And if DiGregorio disagrees with the chief? She said she will follow the proper channels outlined in the Police Services Act.
“We, as members of the board, have a responsibility to have a good dialogue about it … if we have a disagreement with the chief, we need to bring the dialogue to the level of the chief,” she said, quickly adding that she wouldn’t serve on a board whose leadership she disagreed with.
DiGregorio almost didn’t end up on the Hamilton police board, because she and her family almost didn’t end up in Hamilton.
She was born and raised in Uganda and came to Montreal on a scholarship to McGill University, where she studied to become a teacher, giving up a spot on Uganda’s 1968 Olympic hurdling team.
In Montreal, she met her husband Vince DiGregorio — also a teacher and a Hamiltonian. They married in Montreal, before moving back to Uganda to teach.
They might have stayed in Uganda, too, had it not been for the exodus of Asians from the East African country in 1972. They resisted leaving at first, but “things got pretty difficult” and in May of 1973 they left.
“To be honest, we both had jobs in Montreal and Hamilton was a stopover,” she said. But Vince was swayed by a music program at Bishop Ryan Secondary School.
DiGregorio, in a large part, is defined by her time in the school system — working with youth every day, taking an interest in their achievements and helping with extracurricular activities.
“We can have a great influence on young people, you can mould them.”
She worked mostly as an English teacher in the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, rose to vice-principal and then principal of Cathedral High School and ended her career last year as a superintendent of education.
“I did not leave because I didn’t love my job anymore, I didn’t leave because I was tired, I didn’t leave because I was upset, it was timely,” DiGregorio said, adding it’s given her more time for volunteer work.
DiGregorio has received awards for her community efforts.
Ivana Fortino met her when DiGregorio was vice-principal. Now she has “big shoes to fill” as her school board replacement.
“She gave me great advice, she told me to rely on the strengths of the team around me,” she said. And to be responsible to the students.
“She has energy … passion, a great sense of morals and values.”
noreilly@thespec.com
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