The city is launching investigations into the city’s water and wastewater department after a former high-ranking city staffer made allegations of theft and mismanagement.

Abdul Khan, who worked as Hamilton’s Director of Water and Wastewater Treatment from May 2005 until June 2009, alleges his former department is withholding important financial information from council, endangering public health and misusing city money.

He made the claims in an e-mail sent early yesterday morning to council, city’s senior staff and media.

Late last night, council members voted to hire an external auditor to examine Khan’s claims.

They also requested a police investigation into the alleged financial irregularities.

Among Khan’s allegations is the claim that city staff are deliberately withholding the full cost of upgrades to the Woodward Wastewater Treatment plant.

Though the city lists the cost of the water treatment plant upgrades at $700 million, Khan says the cost will reach at least $1.2 billion.

He argues the city ignored warnings that Lynden residents were being exposed to lead in their drinking water for an extended period of time.

Khan also says the city is skipping a step in its water filtration process so it can meet timeline guidelines to get government stimulus for the wastewater treatment plant.

He argues this could have left potentially carcinogenic material in Hamilton’s drinking water.

Finally, Khan claims scrap metal from the wastewater treatment plant worth $10,000 was sold, with some of the proceeds used by city staff for “entertainment” instead of going into city coffers.

He says the city’s official reason for letting him go was “restructuring.”

Khan said he wrote his e-mail last week after making repeated attempts to address council in person.

“Over the weekend, I said, ‘You know what, I have a duty to people. People should know what’s going on,’” he told The Spectator in an interview.

Khan alleges he met with top city officials to alert them to these concerns before leaving the city in June. Outside last night’s city council meeting, city manager Chris Murray said he met with Khan on June 16 but “the allegations of inappropriate actions were not discussed with me. I will fully support and comply with whatever direction council comes out with.”

The e-mail sent shock waves through council and senior staff. Some called for an OPP investigation into missing money. Others said they’ve had difficulty getting information from the water and wastewater department. Councillor Brad Clark said he has asked for an independent auditor to review the cost and the long-term sustainability of the water treatment upgrades, but it “hasn’t happened yet.”

Jim Harnum, the senior director of water and wastewater who oversees the department, responded to the allegations in an e-mail to senior staff and council members yesterday afternoon that was obtained by The Spectator.

Noting the allegations of wrongdoing within the water and wastewater division, the e-mail says, “In addition there has been a number of allegations directed at me personally. As you know I am unable to comment on the specifics of these allegations at this time other than to say that they are completely false and unfounded.”

At council yesterday, Harnum said no information was withheld from the public about the wastewater treatment plant.

City solicitor Peter Barkwell told council he has a ledger that accounts for these funds that does not show “any member of staff was personally benefiting from this.”

Mayor Fred Eisenberger released a statement yesterday afternoon that assured Lynden’s drinking water “was never in jeopardy or compromised.

“To be absolutely clear, the City meets all of the Ministry of Environment drinking water regulations and standards.”

Many council members spoke of Khan as a respected and well-liked staff member.

Councillor Terry Whitehead said he saw Khan as “an up-and-comer.” Councillor Bob Bratina called him “a man of good character and highly principled,” adding that makes the allegations “more disturbing.”

The city’s senior staff met yesterday afternoon to discuss how to proceed, said Murray. “That’s our task right now, to ensure this is looked at as objectively as possible.”

Khan told The Spectator he has copies of e-mails that can prove his allegations.

He also said he’s not concerned about being seen as a disgruntled employee. “I would hope that the community would seek answers and not personalize it. Don’t make it my issue. Make it a community issue.”

SUMMARY OF ALLEGATIONS

Below is a summary of the allegations contained in an e-mail distributed widely yesterday by Abdul Khan, a professional engineer who served as director of water and wastewater for the last four years. Khan, now living and working in Medicine Hat, Alta., said his code of conduct as a professional engineer required him to make the charges public now.

* On public health, he says the department delayed cleanup of lead in Lynden well water to avoid looking as if public works was reacting to orders from the public health department.

* He also alleges staff proposed to save money by not replacing carbon filters in the Woodward Avenue drinking water plant, potentially exposing the public to cancer-causing compounds created when chlorine is used to disinfect the water.

* Khan says false invoices were submitted to the federal provincial stimulus fund.

* He claims Woodward Avenue sewage plant staff sold scrap last year for $10,000 and, instead of going into city coffers, some of the money raised was spent on entertainment.

* He charges that profits of Hamilton Renewable Power Inc.’s green-power project, which burns methane gas from sewage to generate electricity, are exaggerated at the expense of water and sewer ratepayers. He says it would be cheaper to heat the sewage plant with natural gas than to buy heat from HRPI.

* Khan says hiring masseurs to offer free massages to staff during Health and Safety Week last May was “highly inappropriate and gross misuse of authority and public money.” He says he was accused of “lacking consideration for staff.”

* He also says the department was “scaremongering” in reports to council by falsely reporting that the sewage plant is nearing capacity, threatening a development freeze if it isn’t quickly expanded.

* He alleges consultants calculated it would cost $780 million to install and operate membrane filters at the plant, more than double the $330 million staff had estimated, and that the higher number was left out of an environmental assessment and public documents presented to council. Khan says figures from London, Ont., suggest the true cost in Hamilton would be $1.2 billion.

* Khan says he was surprised some information on the costs of operating and maintaining membranes was left out of the rate budget presented to council last December and was told “that information might have intellectually challenged the council and public.”

* Khan says staff resisted asking council to consider abandoning a goal of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan (RAP) and discharging treated sewage into Lake Ontario rather than upgrading treatment to meet higher standards for discharge into the harbour. He says RAP agreed last year to a Halton Region plan to move the Skyway plant outlet from the bay to the lake.