City council has fired city manager Patrick Draper. Draper's contract was terminated without cause in a 6-1 vote.
City council has fired city manager Patrick Draper.
Draper's contract was terminated without cause in a 6-1 vote. Chris Jardine, who was the general manager of community and protective services, has been tapped to serve as interim city manager while council undertakes a search for a permanent replacement.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said council made the decision last Monday but delayed telling Draper in order to get some legal opinions. Draper was informed of council's decision by the mayor on Sunday, after which it was made public.
Crouse said every member of council would have had their own reasons for voting in favour – or not, in the case of Coun. Cathy Heron – of terminating the contract with Draper.
The mayor declined to get into specific details of what influenced his vote.
“In my particular case, it was based on kind of a body of thought and over a period of time I just believed this was the right decision,” Crouse said.
Crouse said Draper has given four years to the city. He said the terms of Draper's contract and severance package are confidential.
Coun. Cam MacKay said in an email that the severance package includes one year of salary plus legal fees. Draper was hired in 2012 for an annual salary of $250,000 plus benefits.
Draper started with the city in April 2012 after former city manager Bill Holtby was fired in October 2011. He moved from Ontario to take the job.
It was Draper's first job as a municipal chief administrative officer. He'd held a variety of roles in the private sector and had been a deputy minister in Ontario in the economic development, trade and tourism portfolio. He'd also served as the director of economic strategy and tourism for the Regional Municipality of York and as president and CEO of the Toronto Region Research Alliance.
His experience in economic development was one of the reasons the previous council hired him. The council of the day was hoping for a greater focus in that area, something both Heron and Crouse said Draper had succeeded in.
However, in the past couple of years, marked by council infighting, Draper has been under fire for decisions such as pursuing a lawsuit against an anonymous blog and hiring a sitting councillor, Gilles Prefontaine, as the new chief community development officer.
The tension could be spotted at council meetings. At one point, when council decided to move to quarterly reviews for the CAO during a November 2015 council meeting, Draper said it was a “witch hunt” being pursued by a few members of council and he'd have to seek legal advice. In recent months the matter of Draper's performance review and contract has been a topic on several council agendas.
Each councillor offered their thoughts on the vote.
“For the good of the community, to drive our community forward, we needed to have a positive working relationship with our city manager,” said Coun. Wes Brodhead. Draper did some wonderful things during his four year tenure, Brodhead said, but it was time for a new direction.
“It was time to have council come together and work in the same direction,” Brodhead said. “I think it was difficult for Patrick (Draper) to lead in that circumstance.”
Coun. Tim Osborne said obviously the decision is one council thought was in the best interests of the community and thanked Draper for his service.
“I just think the focus of council now needs to be on moving forward in a productive manner,” Osborne said.
Coun. Sheena Hughes said it was evident that a change of leadership was needed for staff, council and the city in general in order to move forward in a positive direction.
“Personally I didn't feel that all of council or council motions were being treated equally at all times,” she said, giving the example of the delay in returning Perron Street to parallel parking. Council had given that direction months ago.
MacKay made the actual motion to terminate Draper's contract, and said there are three things he thinks a good city manager needs to do: stay out of politics, develop good relationships with staff, council and the public and have a thick skin.
He didn't feel Draper had those qualities. He also noted decisions like the blog lawsuit as problematic for him.
Coun. Bob Russell had issues with Draper's performance as city manager, and called him the “most pompous” manager he's dealt with in all his time in civic politics.
There was a litany of problematic decisions, Russell said, but said he thinks the results of a human resources review of Draper's performance, which included feedback on staff, was part of what led to council's decision.
“It's far past the time he should have been gone,” Russell said.
Heron was the lone vote against terminating his contract, but voted unanimously with the rest of council to implement related recommendations, like hiring a lawyer and paying the costs out of the stabilization reserve.
She said in an interview that she will support council's decision wholeheartedly.
“I had to stand up for what I thought was morally right. I'm not saying the man was perfect and he had some room for improvement, but he wasn't a terrible city manager,” she said, adding in regional circles Draper had an excellent reputation.
Heron said there is a “long and plentiful” list of good things Draper has done, including finding more savings, low tax increases and creative ideas for economic development.
“I just felt that Patrick has been with the city for four years, and recently activities in the press, and in chambers and in camera, we've sort of forgotten the good he's done for the city,” Heron said.
“I think we're all hoping it will help resolve some of the conflicts within our council,” Heron said. She said she hopes all council members work towards that goal.
At Monday night's council meeting a motion was passed to officially install Jardine as the interim city manager. A recruitment process will occur to find the permanent position.
This is Jardine's second round of being made interim city manager. Jardine served in the same position after Holtby's departure. He applied for the permanent position at the time but council selected Draper to fill the position.
A few council members said in interviews that they are looking forward to working with Jardine in his role as interim city manager.
“Chris (Jardine) provides us stability, he knows the people, he knows the corporation,” Crouse said.
“I think he's going to bring a lot of really good skill sets to the table,” Hughes said.
