Gordon: City staff are resistant to change

Former Greater Sudbury Mayor Jim Gordon says he thinks staff resistance to taking direction from a new mayor and city council is behind comments made by the city's former interim CAO.

In an interview with Northern Life last week, Bob Johnston went public with concerns he has about the state of affairs at city hall.

Johnston, who has since returned to his job as CEO of Greater Sudbury Airport, described a toxic atmosphere, where negativity and paranoia from the mayor's office is creating a culture of fear among city staff. The situation is so bad, he said, talented staff who can find work elsewhere are quitting, which will harm the city in the long run.

Gordon was Sudbury mayor from 1976-1981, and again from 1991-2000. He was also the first mayor of Greater Sudbury when it was created in 2001. Gordon had a long history of high-profile battles with municipal staff. The most notorious example was a case in the mid 1990s, when dozens of people – many with family links to existing employees – were hired just days before a council-mandated hiring freeze was to take effect.

Gordon said he battled arrogance from administrators at the time, who wanted the politicians to rubber stamp their recommendations. That was not their job, Gordon said. It's the elected leaders who make the decisions, he says, and it's up to staff to follow direction.

He suspects a similar scenario is playing out now, with a strong mayor and council with a mandate from the public for change. While he wasn't there during budget meetings last fall, he says he heard the new council faced a similar situation.

"So this council came along, and this mayor (Brian Bigger) came along, they stopped listening to everything some of the things the administrators were saying, particularly during budget meetings,” Gordon said.

"I wasn't there, but I heard through the grapevine, it sounded to me like that the (new city) council many times were aghast at some of the things they were told and the way some of the things were said to them, as if they were children and as if they didn't know what they were doing.

"From what I heard, the council got the feeling they were supposed to be a rubber stamp for administration and the mayor and council should wave at the public and hold the council meetings and pass the motions, but then disappear. That's not what the Municipal Act says."

But Ward 7 Coun. Mike Jakubo, who chairs the city's budget committee, said Friday he's only had a positive relationship with staff.

"It's been almost a year, as you know, and I can honestly tell you I've had nothing but good working relationships with senior management team and staff on an array of issues,” Jakubo said. “As finance chair, I'm involved in a lot of meetings in regards to the budget and dealing with staff a lot and we always seem to work very well together, come up with good results. To me the staff I've been working with are more excited than anything."

And Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti said he hasn't seen any negativity, including the matters Johnston made reference to.

“I think council, staff, administration were all working together,” Signoretti said. “I just see a lot of positive stuff happening and it's all good stuff.

"Staff does their job, and they do a very good job. Their position is to take care of certain issues. If council needs to be a part or made aware of certain things, then we're made aware of it and then we address it accordingly."

In his remarks, Johnston also expressed concern about the number of city managers who have left the corporation in recent months. He also talked about employees who are in “golden handcuffs,” a reference to people who are not old enough to retire, but have enough years contributing to their pensions that quitting would be financially devastating. That leaves them in a position where their first priority is to not take risks and be innovative in their work, and instead do whatever they have to to keep their jobs.

That sort of talk makes him angry, Gordon said. Staff are well-compensated for their work and should be grateful to have such good jobs.

"Well maybe the colour of the handcuffs should be more like lead than gold,” Gordon said. “I mean, we have a lot of really, really well paid people with wonderful benefits. Good for them. But at the same time, I think there should be a very high standard set. You have to listen to the public and the mayor and council."

He said Bigger and the new city council have had a strong first year in office and have kept the promises they made to the public.

"They're not always fighting each other, they're not embarrassing each other and they're certainly not embarrassing us in front of Ontario and the world,” Gordon said. “They're not throwing the ombudsman out of the city."

Despite the current controversy, he said the mayor and council will ultimately be judged by what they accomplish in the rest of the term, now that the first-year honeymoon is over.

“I think they've done pretty much what they said they would do for year one, so I give them full marks for that,” Gordon said. "But it's their responsibility to make sure they are a strong, united group to ensure the public gets what they want. And this public wanted a change … The public wanted to take city hall back. I think this mayor and council have taken city hall back.

“But at the same time, I and the public are looking at years two, three and four. So we'll see.”

The ongoing process of hiring a permanent CAO will be crucial, Gordon said, because it's a key role in ensuring that the decisions of council are effectively implemented.

"What they need to do now is get a very good CAO. That's very important. They need a CAO who knows how to run a city."