Vancouver’s city manager leaving with half-million-dollar severance

Share

The hard-driving and controversial city manager who steered Mayor Gregor Robertson's ideas for change in Vancouver the past seven years has been ousted.

Mr. Robertson said it was time to replace Penny Ballem, a doctor and former deputy health minister, because unhappy voters in last year's election campaign said they wanted more collaboration and a different tone at city hall.

"I made a commitment to doing things differently," said the mayor, who held a news conference late Tuesday, a few hours after city council decided at a closed meeting to terminate Dr. Ballem's open-ended contract.

The motion came as a surprise to the city's four councillors who are not members of the ruling Vision Vancouver party and to many city hall regulars.

Dr. Ballem had been in her city manager's seat at the morning council meeting, doing her usual job of defending city decisions. (In this case, it was the decision to allow federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to use city property to make an election announcement the previous week.)

At his news conference, Mr. Robertson also said that with the city in the process of hiring new heads of engineering, planning and community services, it was an opportune time to bring in a whole new generation of leadership.

"We have a good moment for change here. And new leadership can create new momentum," he said.

Dr. Ballem, who is 65, will be paid $556,000 in severance, since her contract entitled her to 20 months' pay whether she was let go with or without cause.

She has been a divisive figure since the mayor fired long-time city manager Judy Rogers in December, 2008, shortly after he was first elected, and installed Dr. Ballem.

She was known to work exceptionally long hours, and was also passionate about reducing homelessness and helping those living in poverty. But she was viewed by her critics as controlling and a political appointee who cared more about her Vision Vancouver masters than the well-being of the city.

Mr. Robertson praised Dr. Ballem's work, noting that she took charge of difficult files, from the Olympic Village debacle to the city's initiative to reduce homelessness, and created real change.

"She was a force of nature and she got an enormous amount of work done at the city. Her leadership, her energy, her drive have served us well," said the mayor, who worked closely with Dr. Ballem.

However, many senior city hall staff left under her watch, saying privately that they couldn't work with someone who micromanaged, took control away from departments and made what they saw as poor decisions to serve council's political agenda.

The public often blamed Dr. Ballem for their dislike of Vision Vancouver's actions. And some of the city's developers said they had taken to bypassing the planning department because it was obvious that either Dr. Ballem would be making the key decisions or she would be enforcing what council wanted.

There was an effort in the mayor's office before the last election to encourage her to resign. But Dr. Ballem, who felt that she had tackled some of the city's worst problems and turned them into wins for the Vision council, resisted that, say sources with knowledge of the discussion.

Mr. Robertson acknowledged that Dr. Ballem didn't have "intentions to retire." He said it had taken 10 months after the election to decide what to do about her contract, because the city had been unusually busy with the transit plebiscite and affordable-housing initiatives.

The mayor said the city will start a global search for a new city manager, which could take up to six months. In the meantime, deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston is the acting city manager.

Non-Partisan Association Councillor George Affleck said this latest move in senior management is a sign that Vision Vancouver is doing a terrible job of managing the city. And, he said, it seems to be more about politics than anything.

"Vision is just trying to refresh their brand," he said.