The mayor of Whitchurch-Stouffville Justin Altmann has a new community chain and it comes with a $1,900 price tag billed to taxpayers, which he calls “money well spent.”
“It's a great way for people to feel that they can connect with you – that they can talk with you and that you're equal to them,” Justin Altman told CTV News Toronto on Friday.
When broken down, Altmann said the chain cost four cents per person for one year or one cent for four years when divided between the 46,000 people of Whitchurch-Stouffville.
The mayor chose to create the community chain after council passed a motion restricting where he could wear the official chain of office. Since his election in 2014, Altmann has been spotted sporting the chain at several events, including his wedding in August 2016, and allowed other people to wear the chain as well.
The official chain of office is blue while the community chain is red.
“I had asked the integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig if it was allowed and ok, she said as long as they don't call it the chain of office, the community chain, then it's fine,” said Altman.
CTV News Toronto reached out to Craig who said she advised the mayor this was in his purview but stressed the importance to communicate to the people and council its purpose so that they aren’t misled about the chain.
But councillor Hugo Kroon of Ward 3 said that people would make the assumption the chain the mayor is wearing is the chain of office.
Councillor Rick Upton of Ward 4 said he’s spoken to the public about the mayor’s second chain and that the general public was unware of the duplicate chain.
“They don't realize that there's two chains, they are confused with the chain of the people, they think this is the official town chain, so it is causing some confusion,” said Upton.
The Stouffville mayor is no stranger to controversy.
In September, Altman was ordered by Craig to apologize for his extensive wall map consisting of photographs of councilors, former employees and local residents in his office bathroom. The apology had to be issued within 90 days and came with him losing one month of pay.
Altman has yet to apologize publicly.
Back in September, Altmann’s lawyer said she is calling for a third-party review of the investigation calling it “unfair” as the photo wall was a “mind map to connect the dots” after 12 anonymous packages were delivered to residents back in July 2014.