FSJ Council Going Ahead With Staff Terminations
By 250 News
One week after being ’shown the door’, two of the three managers at the City of Fort St. John have lost appeals of decisions to terminate their employment without cause.
Last Wednesday, City Manager John Locker, Director of Community Services Patty Murray, and City Clerk Carol Susak were shocked to find themselves asked to leave the municipal hall shortly after two o’clock in the afternoon.
Both Locker and Murray appeared at a meeting with Fort St. John City Council yesterday afternoon to appeal their terminations.
Locker says, "It was in-camera, which is confidential, so I can’t say a lot."
"All I can say is that, in a straightforward manner, we presented our case and that was it."
Locker says the pair then left to give Councillors time to deliberate, but he says when word came around 7pm last night, it was not good news. "We’ve been advised by our solicitor that they’ve decided to terminate our employment without cause." Locker does not know if City Clerk Carol Susak attempted a similar appeal and Opinion250 was unable to contact Susak.
Locker doesn’t believe there’s any further legal recourse, "We have a contract with the city that lays out the provisions of ’termination without cause’ and those provisions are being exercised."
Locker says he’s not able to comment on the value of the severance packages, saying the dollar amount will be different for each of the three contracts. It has been estimated it will cost the City of Fort St. John $600-thousand dollars in total. (click here, for previous story)
After 26 years in municipal politics, 14 of those years with the City of FSJ, Locker says, "As an employee, this is what can occur when there’s a change in government and they want to see a different management team or corporate philosophy." He adds, "It’s not the way you want to end a career, but it happens."
Going without a vacation for about three years, Locker says he and his wife plan to take a few weeks to do some travelling and then reflect on their next steps.
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Posted by: Harbinger on June 21 2007 10:04 PM
Listening between the words, which were very couched, it appears that there was a leadership style which was at odds with what staff and members of the community that deals with the City expect senior staff of the City to have in today's world of business. That style appeared to me to be one which was considered to be too authoritarian rather than participatory.