Nanaimo city hall is broken, and there is no sign that anyone is going to fix it. For bewildered Nanaimo residents, questions abound, but answers and solutions are nowhere to be found when even the facts are unclear.
On Monday, chief administrative officer Tracy Samra put out a statement saying that an independent consultant found that Mayor Bill McKay, Coun. Diane Brennan and former Coun. Wendy Pratt created a hostile work environment for her.
That sounds like a serious finding from consultant Roslyn Goldner.
But then the mayor trashed Samra’s news release, saying it was “grossly inaccurate in its facts.”
What are the people of Nanaimo to make of those duelling statements? They can’t judge for themselves because council hasn’t released the report.
We do know that this is just the latest episode of bizarre behaviour at city hall.
Samra says the mayor has made defamatory comments about her, and she filed complaints under Nanaimo’s respectful-workplace and violence-in-the-workplace policies, which led the city to commission Goldner’s report.
But it’s not just a question of the chief administrative officer battling the mayor and a couple of councillors. The councillors are also at daggers drawn with each other.
Last year, seven of eight councillors called for McKay’s resignation over an allegation that he bullied a staff member. And the city is suing the mayor over allegations he shared confidential information.
After complaints about McKay relating to financial-disclosure reporting, business dealings and trade missions, and after an unnamed councillor was arrested after an altercation at a council meeting, a special prosecutor was appointed to work with police investigating the incidents.
Last October, Coun. Gord Fuller told the mayor to “bite me” during a meeting. In November, a citizen released a confidential email written by McKay in 2015 to an outside conflict-resolution mediator, which described some councillors as bullies and mentally ill.
The mayhem is reminiscent of tiny Lantzville, where four of seven council members resigned a few months after the 2014 elections. Three of them were sued for libel by their former colleagues who remained in office.
Voters expect their council members to do the public business, not give each other the business. Nanaimo has some serious issues that demand council’s attention.
The city is taking yet another run at getting a hotel built on a site near the convention centre. The cruise-ship terminal, touted as a potential boost to the economy, has seen only a handful of ships. In March, residents voted 80 per cent against the city’s proposal to borrow $80 million for a new events centre.
The city-funded Nanaimo Economic Development Corp. disbanded last year after its chief executive was fired because he criticized city council for removing tourism marketing from the corporation’s mandate.
With those issues and many others on the table, the city needs councillors who will focus on the job, and work together on behalf of the residents. Does the city need a clean sweep? There is no immediate hope of that when the election is more than a year away.
This is another reason to question the wisdom of the change to four-year terms for municipal councils. It would be inefficient and counter-productive to return to the days of one-year terms, but an out-of-control council can do a lot more damage in four years than it can in three.
Goldner’s report should be released as soon as possible, and Nanaimo’s councillors and CAO have to start working together.
