Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Council argues over city manager’s extension

Aug 11, 2017 | 5:00 PM

It wasn’t the man, but more the method which led to heated discussions surrounding city manager Jim Toye’s extension.

Both Coun. Charlene Miller and Coun. Evert Botha argued it was the duty of council to provide an annual written performance evaluation of the city manager, a step not yet taken.

“I feel like we are circumventing our own bylaws and I cannot agree to this motion, not without written reviews from all of council,” Botha said.

Miller concurred, reiterating her stance from a previous meeting. She admitted Toye “has done a fantastic job,” but the written review was just part of her responsibility as a councillor.

“It is our job to put it on a piece of paper like this and hand it in and say ‘yes, Mr. Toye, you have done a wonderful job,’” Miller said. “That is our job to do that. And, as a city councillor, I am responsible and I am supposed to so what I am supposed to do.”

After the recorded vote saw Botha, Miller, and Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp oppose the extension, Coun. Don Cody expressed his two-cents.

Cody heralded Toye’s recent work, specifically pertaining to last summer’s oil spill. He believed Toye had “done a good job” and said both he and the public “appreciate the work he did.”

“If you want to talk about there being no review, well we review the person almost on a daily basis. He is before us here all the time,” he said.

Toye’s role was eventually extended until Dec. 31, 2019.

 

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JounroMarr