Take Hamilton, for example. Their previous City Manager, Chris Murray, left for a similar position in Toronto last summer.
In August, Council put a process in place by determining who’d be on the Steering Committee for hiring a new manager but didn’t do much else, it would seem.
Council’s composition changed significantly with seven new members elected in the fall. But the process set in place didn’t make room for new Councillor’s involvement in the very important decision of hiring a manager. Council’s questionable decision to move a Hiring Committee meeting to another City has raised public concerns. It is a bit of mess and one wonders how it will all impact the work of Council over the next four years.
(An article by Cameron Kroetsch provides some historical context and analysis
https://raisethehammer.org/article/3613/whats_at_stake_in_the_city_manager_hiring_process)
Another Fine Mess
The Southwestern Ontario City of Sarnia has a mess of a different sort.
It has to do in part with building a wall. No, not that wall. This wall is a real one and separates the mayor’s office from the administrative staff.
A 2016 report concluded that long serving Mayor Mike Bradley had created a toxic work environment by engaging in "egregious bullying and harassment" when dealing with senior city staff.
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| Mayor Bradley |
Council acted on the report by putting sanctions in place against the Mayor.
They docked his pay, restricted his access to City Hall to work hours only and permitted him to only speak with staff through an intermediary.
Perhaps surprisingly, (voter is always right) Bradley won re-election by a large margin in October. Many incumbent Councillors were defeated or retired.
Now the City Manager has left and a new one is needed.
Earlier this week, Sarnia Councillors voted to keep in place the sanctions on the Mayor. An issue was whether the sanctions (on or off) will hurt the search for a new manager.
Council also voted to get an outside legal opinion on keeping the sanctions on. That will take time and cost money.
https://www.theobserver.ca/news/local-news/sanctions-to-stay-for-now
In the Soo
Meanwhile Sault Ste. Marie Council is also looking for a new top staff person.
Mayor Christian Provenzano recommended that a Selection Committee made up of himself, an experienced and a new Councillor be approved. Those other two members would be gender balanced.
https://www.saultstar.com/news/local-news/cao-and-city-to-part-ways-at-end-of-contract
Council, then, in an open meeting voted for three members to be part of a Selection Committee.
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| Sault Ste. Marie - City Hall |
It that doesn’t work they’ll start the process over again.
“But obviously if that comes to pass, we'll be back here (to Council) and we'll be talking about that," the Mayor told the Soo Today. https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/mayor-hilsinger-niro-lead-search-for-the-next-horsman-1238890
They have some time as the current City Manager doesn’t finish his four year contract until August.
It will be interesting to see how this all turns out for these three cities.
Some Reading
Michael Szarka researched the whole idea of the problem of recruiting CAO’s for small municipalities in Ontario. It is an interesting read. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1173&context=lgp-mrps
