Hockey coaches get fired for three reasons: The team is losing. The owners are often rich guys with big egos who have no business running a sports franchise though they may be good at land development or whatever. And, of course, sometimes the coach is simply not effective at his job. It is difficult to know where, exactly, the truth lies because you can’t exactly fire the entire team for poor performance and the person who signs the paycheques is more or less immune. So whether the coach is really to blame or not for an impossible situation becomes a moot point. Someone has to take the blame and everyone knows the team and owner aren’t going anywhere. And that leaves the coach.
After city council pulled the plug on city manager Patrick Draper Sunday, it was not entirely clear what scenario was at play, but most likely it is a combination of all three. Perhaps some believe the move is the only way city council can repair its dysfunctional reputation and end an era of constant public sniping, us-against-them internal divisions and thinly veiled political ambitions.
It’s no secret that Draper’s relationship with council – at least certain councillors – had become strained. There were also grumblings emanating from city hall from staff who were disenchanted with senior leadership. There were many events that led to Draper’s firing, but let’s be certain, council must share the blame for where the city is today. The political infighting on council has been well documented on the pages of this newspaper, and Draper got caught up in the tangle.
In the years since Draper was hired, residents have been treated to more drama than on an afternoon soap opera – except that soap operas are free and Draper’s dramas could result in a hefty bill to taxpayers. Let’s start with the city-funded $40,000 lawsuit to defend Draper’s name against comments by an extremely obscure group known as the Third Floor blog. Considering most residents don’t have a clue about what was said or by whom, the whole performance just seems silly and needlessly expensive. The costs don’t take into account Draper’s severance, and a $130,000 byelection when Gilles Prefontaine jumped from councillor to senior administrator.
That jump, by the way, was a costly one to Draper’s career. Almost exactly a year ago, Draper hired then-sitting councillor Prefontaine, to fill a plum post as the city’s head of engineering and planning with a title that doesn’t match – Chief Community Development Officer. There is not enough space in this editorial to discuss the disturbing optics on this one. Suffice to say, however, nothing could have prepared council for the fallout for this stinker, one that will likely dog the members of council as they head into the next municipal election in 2017. Draper may be gone, but this thing isn’t over.
Could the slow progress on Project 9, the new sewer line which will service new growth in the city’s west, be another example of the dysfunction that has plagued this city? With all of the back and forth on timetables, costs and funding, wouldn’t business have been better served had it been put in the ground during the boom? Is it engineering, planning, leadership, or a combination of all three?
It is impossible to know what went on behind closed doors at city council in the past little while as they contemplated the city manager’s future. Maybe all of the details are not everyone’s business. But when the city hires a new manager, the occasion will be accompanied by all of the pomp and accolades that come when a hockey team hires a new coach. As the mere people who pay for the tickets, we can only hope that all of those people who continue to hold jobs also will do a few things differently from now on.
