David Duckworth, chief administration officer with the City of Calgary did not lose his job on Tuesday, as some suspected he would, after demands he be fired and take the blame for the second rupture of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main that happened on Dec. 30.
City council’s executive committee went behind closed doors just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday to review the process behind the CAO performance review.
The committee emerged four hours later, with a 12-3 vote in favour of the process, with Cllrs. Ward, Johnston and Chabot voting against.
All discussions about the review process during the meeting are confidential, although there are indications an attempt was made to discuss dismissing Duckworth.
As CAO, Duckworth is the only City of Calgary employee who reports directly to council, with all other employees ultimately reporting to him.
The CAO performance review is legally required under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) and is done annually by council to determine whether the CAO carried out council’s directions and managed risks as well as city operations in the best interest of Calgarians.
Members of council are the sole decision makers of the CAO’s performance and under section 205 of the MGA it can fire the CAO, at any time, by a vote of council.
Legally, council does not need to prove misconduct or a failure of law, nor make the reason for dismissal public.
So, it was well within the power of Calgary city council to terminate Duckworth on Tuesday.
Rather, the executive committee made recommendations to be approved by regular council to implement increasing oversight and scrutiny of the CAO position, including: Monitor progress against agreed performance objectives for the CAO through structured quarterly check-ins; continue to oversee the CAO’s performance evaluation process and recommend outcomes to council (including continuation, corrective action or termination); report to council on a schedule determined by the executive committee, while respecting confidentiality requirements; and survey current council to participate in the performance evaluation of the CAO.
Prior to the closed-door meeting and the Duckworth decision, other City of Calgary bosses, COO Stuart Dalgliesh and GM Michael Thompson, as well as Siegfried Kiefer, chair of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main Independent Review Panel (IRP) presented to council on progress being made on the Bearspaw South Feeder Main repairs, which should be completed by the end of this week.
Council also heard an outline of plans for the proposed implementation of the recommendations in the IRP report. Final implementation plans will be presented to the executive committee on Feb. 3