Vaughan's former city manager in top job at Township of Muskoka Lakes

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 22, 2015
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Vaughan’s former city manager has landed a job at a municipality in cottage country.

Clayton Harris, who worked at the City of Vaughan for 21 years before abruptly resigning in April 2013, is serving as interim CAO at the Township of Muskoka Lakes.

The municipality is comprised of the Township of Cardwell, the Township of Watt, the United Townships of Medora and Wood, the Town of Bala, the Village of Port Carling, the Village of Windermere and a portion of the former Township of Monck.

The municipality’s headquarters are in Port Carling, a tiny town nestled between Lake Joseph, Lake Rosseau and Lake Muskoka whose population swells in the summer months when well-heeled cottagers from the GTA and beyond descend on the community.

Harris began working there in July 2014, according to a new release put out by the municipality.

During his tenure in Vaughan, Harris served as commissioner of finance before becoming deputy city manager in 2007 and city manager in 2009.

A few months after his sudden departure, 15 more city staffers were terminated.

Then, a month later, Vaughan councillors agreed to pay $17.125 million to settle a lawsuit related to construction of the city hall, which ran millions over budget and took 18 months longer than projected to complete.