Tracy Samra’s tenure as Nanaimo’s chief administrative officer is over.
Nanaimo’s mayor and council issued a terse statement Friday afternoon after an in-camera meeting, stating: “This message is to inform citizens that Ms. Samra is no longer employed as the chief administrative officer for the City of Nanaimo.
“The city will not be making any further statements on this matter.”
No information was released on why Samra is no longer with the city or on whether there was a financial settlement.
Samra has been on leave from the city since Feb. 1.
In her time as the city’s top bureaucrat, Samra has played a high-profile role, sometimes clashing with council members. Nanaimo is also known for public arguments and rocky relations among council members.
She is scheduled to appear in Nanaimo provincial court on June 5. This comes after a B.C. special prosecutor approved an application to have Samra bound by terms of a peace bond following an incident in Nanaimo on Jan. 31.
Samra was arrested by RCMP as a result of allegations of threats uttered at Nanaimo City Hall, the B.C. Prosecution Service has said.
The application states that Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay and councillors Sheryl Armstrong and Dianne Brennan, city staffers Sheila Gurrie, Jan Kemp and Donna Stennes, former municipal employees Brad McRae and Kim Fowler, and online journalist Dominic Jones have “reasonable grounds to fear” that Samra will cause personal injury to them, based on the Jan. 31 incident.
The departure of Samra follows that of Victor Mema mid-month. He had been on leave from his job as director of finance since March. No details were released.
Samra worked as Nanaimo’s interim city manager from November 2015 to March 2016, when she was awarded the job on a permanent basis.
In a statement issued at the time, Samra said, “I am humbled by the overwhelming support of council. I am excited about supporting council’s vision for the community.”
She later complained about what she called a toxic environment at city hall, and referred to dealings with McKay and Brennan. A consultant was hired to examine the matter. That report has not been made public.
The City of Nanaimo will be interviewing five short-listed candidates for the job of interim chief administrative officer and it hopes to have a person named by the end of June, McKay said.
Interest came from across the country. All short-listed applicants have served as chief administrative officers, he said.
As far as how past contentious matters have affected city staff, McKay said, “I think the atmosphere and work environment created by council has taken a toll on them.”
He praised staff, saying, “I have nothing but admiration for them.”
McKay said he could not comment on the recent staff changes.
Kim Smythe, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, said of Friday’s news: “I think that most people will be very thankful that this has come to a conclusion.”
City staff now have a sense of closure, he said.
Former city council member Fred Pattje, who belongs to the non-partisan community group OurNanaimo, said the changes in administration were a “long time in coming but basically this was a positive step for Nanaimo.”
He wondered about the financial terms surrounding staff who have left.
“I think there would be an awful lot of curious citizens in Nanaimo who would like to know.”
Other senior staff members have left the city in the past few years and that is a loss of a “tremendous amount of talent,” Pattje said.
“We need to get trust back in the governance in our city.”
“Our next election is our best chance to work on that. That’s not so far [away].”
B.C. municipal elections are being held in Oct. 20.
