Brampton council shows CAO John Corbett the door

Corbett had been expected to stay through the budget process; ouster makes him the latest casualty of former mayor Susan Fennell’s troubled administration.


Thestar.com
March 25, 2015
By San Grewal

Brampton’s top bureaucrat is no longer employed with the city, the biggest recent casualty of former mayor Susan Fennell’s troubled administration.

An announcement late Wednesday afternoon announced the departure of chief administrative officer John Corbett. It said his position would be filled on an acting “rotational” basis for now, while a council search committee recruits a new CAO.

A source told the Star late Wednesday afternoon that Corbett's contract had just been "terminated."

The decision, made in a closed-door meeting, followed rising tensions since Mayor Linda Jeffrey ousted Fennell from office on a platform promising accountability and transparency at city hall - capped by a highly charged confrontation with Jeffrey on Wednesday morning.

Corbett’s retirement had been announced in late January, but he was expected to stay on as interim CAO through the budget process.

The writing was on the wall for Corbett after Jeffrey blasted him during a morning budget sub-committee meeting for "dumping" budget documents on councillors just minutes before the meeting, preventing them from making informed decisions on the 2015 budget process, and for presenting a budget report that argued against a specific council request to freeze the wages of himself and all non-union staff.

Corbett has been at the centre of controversy since he took the job in late 2012. He was one of five senior staff, along with former mayor Fennell, named in documents included in a $28.5-million lawsuit launched against the city by a developer who claims he was unfairly disqualified from bidding on a $500-million downtown development project.

The developer’s statement of claim, which contains allegations not tested in court, alleges staff misled council during the selection process, and that they and Fennell were biased in favour of the company that the five senior staffers recommended for the job. The City of Brampton denies all the allegations in the lawsuit.

Corbett has also taken the blame for a delayed external investigation into the development project. He recommended the investigator for the job while Fennell was still mayor, despite Corbett's apparent conflict in the matter.

The probe is now three months’ overdue, and angry councillors have asked why Corbett never set a budget for the job, which was sole-sourced.

Corbett also had to deal with other scandals surrounding Fennell, including her secret move to alter her own salary in 2013 with the help of city treasurer Peter Honeyborne, who reported to Corbett. The quiet reduction in pay followed public outrage over the size of her remuneration. A municipal law expert consulted by the city told council that the move, done without council's knowledge, was illegal.

Corbett had worked for the city for about 30 years, rising to the position of commissioner of planning before he got the top job. Councillors supported him for the position after they voted not to renew the contract of former city manager Deborah Dubenofsky.

Corbett was expected to turn the city's reputation around. But throughout the numerous controversies - including scathing external reports on the city's budgeting processes by the C.D. Howe Institute, and a recent report on its dire financial situation by former Ontario auditor general Jim McCarter - Corbett defended his staff, many of whom had served with him at the city for decades.

Last year, he again defended staff after a shocking internal review of the city's capital projects found that $766 million of approved work could not be properly accounted for, with many of the projects the city had budgeted for left incomplete or never even started.

It was clear Wednesday morning that Jeffrey had lost patience with Corbett and his failure to respond to council’s directives, particularly on the salary issue.

Despite the retirement announced in January, he had entered into a new three-month contract to continue on an interim basis through the budget process. But that contract was cut short Wednesday.