Montreal's council voted last night to authorize the city's auditor-general to investigate the dealings of the Société d'habitation et de développement de Montréal.
The former municipal real- estate body was quietly privatized by city hall two years ago. The auditor is to report by March 15. His mandate comes after weeks of reports about questionable sales by the non-profit company.
This year, two downtown apartment buildings, on Lincoln Ave. and Sussex St., sold to the fourth-highest of five bidders, and a complex on St. Patrick St. in Southwest borough sold without tender and without specific authorization of the city executive committee, as required in the SHDM's agreement with the city on how the corporation is to operate.
Last week, Tremblay told reporters he would ask council to approve an audit of all SHDM transactions since the agency was privatized on Jan. 1, 2007.
At the council meeting last night, Tremblay said he's upset about how the SHDM transactions took place.
"I'm not in agreement with how some things seemed t o have been interpreted by the SHDM," Tremblay said last night.
Also at council last night, Tremblay said he will ask Stationnement Montréal, the company that manages city parking spaces, to examine how to make it easier for physically disabled people to pay at parking meters.
Tremblay was replying to a question from Hampstead resident Barbara Weisz, who suffers from psoriatic arthritis. She complained the pay stations for meters are often too far away and are too high for people in wheelchairs to reach. She also asked if disable people could get free parking, as is done in many cities in North America. The mayor said he will look into it.
jmagder@thegazette.canwest.com