KTW reached out to some other regional districts for their CAOs’ credit card charges. The number of restaurant/coffee shop/food expenses charged by CAOs in various regional districts in 2019:
• Sukh Gill, Thompson-Nicola Regional District: 172 times.
• Robert Lapham, Capital Regional District: 17 times.
• David Sewell, Regional District of North Okanagan: 6 times.
• Carol Mason and Jerry Dobrovolny, Metro Vancouver Regional District: one time.
TNRD board chair Ken Gillis said the board did not know the extent to which spending occurred and has called the amounts “surprising” and “somewhat distressing.”
In a five-year period of total TNRD expenses for meals and accommodations claimed by all employees, 2018 featured the most — $92,706. In 2018, TNRD CAO Sukh Gill charged a total of $41,125 on his regional district credit card as a result of visits by himself and others to restaurants, coffee shops, wineries, liquor stores and grocery stores. Below is a graphic showing how many visits were made by Gill and others to restaurants, coffee shops, wineries, liquor stores and grocery stores in 2018, how much was charged to the regional district on his credit card and the number of people who were involved in those transactions. There were at least 951 people involved, based on names listed in receipts. Some receipts did not have names listed and many of those 951 people listed appeared numerous times on receipts.