By Pepper Parr
January 28, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Well – this is going to be interesting.
It has to do with the position of city manager.
We know why this guy is smiling. Pat Moyle current interim city manager heads south Friday for warmer weather
We don’t have one – but we do have an Interim city manager; he leaves on Thursday. Pat Moyle took on the job of serving as an Interim city manager against his wife’s advice. She went along with the gig on the understanding that Pat would be in their car no later than February 1st and heading south to Florida.
The wife advanced that date to the 29th – so Pat Moyle is on the way out the door on Thursday.
By law the city must have a person known as the city manager in place.
In the past one of the General managers takes on the task.
Burlington has just the one city manager, Scott Stewart and he is one of the people applying for the job of city manager that has been open ever since Jeff Fielding turned a five year contract into a 26 month contract and headed west to Calgary.
Former City General Manager Kim Phillips retired in July leaving the city in Scott Stewart’s hands with Pat Moyle providing oversight.
Kim Phillips was one of the general managers but she left city hall in July.
Since then Pat Moyle has served as interim city manager and Scott Stewart has been carrying the ball as the sole general manager.
Many people thought council would have decided who they wanted as their new city manager by now. They are known to now be working on their short list and Scott Stewart is on that list.
Here is where it gets murky – one of the reasons a decision has not been made is because Council has not interviewed all the candidates.
Huh!
There is apparently some kind of a conflict between the one of the candidates and someone on the interviewing team. That might be Pat Moyle – but this city is so secretive that you the public that pick up the tab will never know what the SIGNIFICANT Seven are doing.
Its gets better.
That Maple Leaf Sweater is not the reason Scott Stewart a current city general manager and a candidate for the job of city manager is smiling.
As General Manager many of the departments reported to Scott Stewart.
Legal was one of those departments.
Former city manager Jeff Fielding is on the left upbraiding one of the Air Park Lawyers. Nancy Shea Nicol city solicitor will serve as interim city manger until council decides who they want running the shop.
City Solicitor and Director of Legal Services Nancy Shea-Nicol will be the acting city manager until the permanent city manager is hired.
Figure this one out: Shea Nicol reports to Scott Stewart but because Stewart is one of the finalists for the job of city manager Shea Nicol has been made the boss of the man who has up until this morning been her boss.
And it hasn’t been what one would call the smoothest of working relationships.
And we thought the way Rob Ford ran Toronto was a bit of a zoo?
Recently re-elected the Significant Seven are struggling with hiring a new city manager. The position has been open for close to a year.
Recently re-elected the Significant Seven are struggling with hiring a new city manager. The position has been open for close to a year.
Then it gets funny: “Managing Canada’s best mid-sized city is a significant task,” says Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring. “We want to ensure we give internal and external candidates every opportunity to share with us their vision for Burlington’s future, helping us to maintain and enhance an already wonderful city.”
Mayor Goldring can’t seem to get away from using that ” we are the best mid sized city in the country phrase”.
Someone in the Mayor’s office writes this baffle gab.
Interim City Manager Pat Moyle, who joined the city in May 2014, has been a part of the recruitment for the new city manager. He finishes his position with the city as of Jan. 30, 2015.
More baffle gab: “It has been a tremendously rewarding experience,” said Moyle, former CAO of Halton Region, and a seasoned municipal leader. “While in Burlington, I had the good fortune to serve a leading City Council that works with all levels of government and the community to build a better Burlington. I was also impressed by a team of staff that not only offers great customer service from day to day, but shows compassion, including for residents who suffered significant losses following the storm and flooding of Aug. 4, 2014.”
Shea-Nicol began as an intern with the City of Burlington in 1982. She then worked for the City of Windsor in the city manager’s office followed by a position in litigation with law firm Lancaster, Mix and Welch. Shea-Nicol returned to Burlington in 1998 as an assistant city solicitor, becoming city solicitor and director of legal services in 2007.
The city media release closes with that old sock: “The City of Burlington has been named Canada’s best mid-sized city by MoneySense magazine.
Maybe we will have a new city manager by Valentine’s Day and we can have a wonderful group hug. Nope – tat won’t happen. The recently reelected council are at odds with each other with John Taylor saying at city council on Monday that he was ashamed of the city.
Hhhmmmm, perhaps Council is listening not only to those outside of the doors of City Hall, but also to the folks who work inside. Perhaps Mr. Scott’s halo isn’t as straight as this media seems to think. There are two sides to every story and there are many qualified people out there who aren’t afraid to give a childish Council a good swift kick to get them back on track. Council is the decider, staff make the recommendations to Council. Staff’s professional recommendations are what they are hired for. Leadership has to remind Council of that again and again.
They blamed Cam Jackson for the dysfunction that came with his leadership….. yet the dysfunctional behaviours continue. Perhaps its time to take a real hard look at the leadership inside before jumping to conclusions.
Council needs to choose smartly. It’s time!!
Another Mountain out of a molehill made by the Gazette.Your snow will still get plowed and pot holes will be filled, business as usual for the time being.
I agree with James, Mr Stewart is the natural and logical choice. And yes, he will be on his high horse out if he is passed over, who can blame him. That’s exactly how he came from Hamilton when he missed out on their City Managers competition about 5 years ago.
I hope he gets it, he’s certainly qualified.
I believe you mean to say, “Burlington has just one General Manager, Scott Stewart…….”
Interesting. If you think Councillor Taylor is frustrated, imagine how Scott Stewart must be feeling right about now. He’s smart, qualified, has stepped up any time the City has asked him to, is seemingly the obvious choice, and yet here he is waiting for the selection Committee to take extra time to find someone, anyone, as long as it’s not him. If Council wanted him to be the new City Manager, they would have announced it already. The fact that they’re extending the search is not a good sign. If he does get the nod now, it will feel like they settled. If he doesn’t get the job, you can only imagine how long it will be before we’re reading about his departure to another municipality. Perhaps Jeff Fielding (arguably the best City Manager this city has seen in a long time) was on to something when he unexpectedly decided to jump on his horse and get the h*ll out of Dodge.