UPDATE: City of Vaughan officials remain tight-lipped about senior staff departures

January 31, 2014
Vaughan Citizen
By Adam Martin-Robbins

City representatives are being tight-lipped about the sudden departure of two senior staff members earlier this week.

Commissioner of Community Services Marlon Kallideen and Buildings Manager Angelo Cioffi resigned from their posts following a lengthy closed-door council meeting Tuesday afternoon, yorkregion.com has been told.

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua declined to discuss the matter saying in a statement sent by email: “It is the city’s policy to not release details about personnel matters as they are confidential".

Repeated requests for information about a third employee who allegedly parted ways with the city Tuesday have met with a similar response from city representatives.

Mr. Kallideen, a longtime city employee, pulled in a salary of about $199,000 in 2012, the most recent year for which that information is publicly available. Mr. Cioffi, meanwhile, was paid about $122,000.

As commissioner of community services, Mr. Kallideen oversaw construction of the new city hall building, which ended up running  $15.6 million over budget.

The city also wound up settling a lawsuit in August with Maystar General Contractors Inc. and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects for $17 million related to the city hall cost overruns.

This week’s staff departures are the latest in a string dating back to 2012.

That year, four senior staffers were fired just before Canada Day.

Then, in April 2013, the city manager abruptly resigned.

His departure was followed a few months later by the dismissal of 15 staffers from various departments, again just before Canada Day.

In that instance, Vaughan integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig was called in to investigate after Regional Councillor Michael Di Biase confirmed to the media the identities of two staffers who were let go.

Mr. Di Biase wound up issuing an apology.