The rumours about city manager Penny Ballem leaving the city had been circulating for so long that many of us got lulled into wondering if, in the end, nothing might happen.
So the announcement Tuesday that she was out came as a surprise, as the mill had been quiet for a while. (My story in the Globe here on the day’s events and also pasted below.)
The mayor’s decision to terminate her contract has prompted a flood of response. (And curiosity about why now. One rumour is that headhunters looking for a new head of engineering, head of community services and head of planning were reporting back that potential candidates were saying, I won’t work with her.)
Of course, lots of relief and jubilation from the large group of current and former staffers who detested her abrasive, nano-managing style. Also relief from many in the development industry who found that it had become pointless to go to the planning department, since all decisions were being made by the city manager (sometimes right down to the FSR that would be granted).
But that wasn’t across the board. I talked to someone who works on health care in the Downtown Eastside who was very sorry to hear she was gone, as Penny was driving through lots of needed changes on the city side to help improve things there. Another former planner said that what people often didn’t see was how progressive she was in much of what she was trying to do. Her efforts on homelessness were superhuman.
And former head of engineering Peter Judd, in a good story by my competitor/colleague Jeff Lee at the Vancouver Sun, exemplifies the point of view of at least some people at city hall who said, yes, she’s tough and demanding, but she gets things done and demands the best from people.
A complex, controversial person who undoubtedly has had a lasting impact on the city, whichever way you look at it.
FRANCES BULA
VANCOUVER — Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2015 5:13PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2015 10:19PM EDT
The hard-driving and controversial city manager who steered Mayor Gregor Robertson’s ideas for change in Vancouver the past seven years has been ousted.
Mr. Robertson said it was time to replace Penny Ballem, a doctor and former deputy health minister, because unhappy voters in last year’s election campaign said they wanted more collaboration and a different tone at city hall.
“I made a commitment to doing things differently,” said the mayor, who held a news conference late Tuesday, a few hours after city council decided at a closed meeting to terminate Dr. Ballem’s open-ended contract.
The motion came as a surprise to the city’s four councillors who are not members of the ruling Vision Vancouver party and to many city hall regulars.
Dr. Ballem had been in her city manager’s seat at the morning council meeting, doing her usual job of defending city decisions. (In this case, it was the decision to allow federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to use city property to make an election announcement the previous week.)
At his news conference, Mr. Robertson also said that with the city in the process of hiring new heads of engineering, planning and community services, it was an opportune time to bring in a whole new generation of leadership.
“We have a good moment for change here. And new leadership can create new momentum,” he said.
Dr. Ballem, who is 65, will be paid $556,000 in severance, since her contract entitled her to 20 months’ pay whether she was let go with or without cause.
She has been a divisive figure since the mayor fired long-time city manager Judy Rogers in December, 2008, shortly after he was first elected, and installed Dr. Ballem.
She was known to work exceptionally long hours, and was also passionate about reducing homelessness and helping those living in poverty. But she was viewed by her critics as controlling and a political appointee who cared more about her Vision Vancouver masters than the well-being of the city.
Mr. Robertson praised Dr. Ballem’s work, noting that she took charge of difficult files, from the Olympic Village debacle to the city’s initiative to reduce homelessness, and created real change.
“She was a force of nature and she got an enormous amount of work done at the city. Her leadership, her energy, her drive have served us well,” said the mayor, who worked closely with Dr. Ballem.
However, many senior city hall staff left under her watch, saying privately that they couldn’t work with someone who micromanaged, took control away from departments and made what they saw as poor decisions to serve council’s political agenda.
The public often blamed Dr. Ballem for their dislike of Vision Vancouver’s actions. And some of the city’s developers said they had taken to bypassing the planning department because it was obvious that either Dr. Ballem would be making the key decisions or she would be enforcing what council wanted.
There was an effort in the mayor’s office before the last election to encourage her to resign. But Dr. Ballem, who felt that she had tackled some of the city’s worst problems and turned them into wins for the Vision council, resisted that, say sources with knowledge of the discussion.
Mr. Robertson acknowledged that Dr. Ballem didn’t have “intentions to retire.” He said it had taken 10 months after the election to decide what to do about her contract, because the city had been unusually busy with the transit plebiscite and affordable-housing initiatives.
The mayor said the city will start a global search for a new city manager, which could take up to six months. In the meantime, deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston is the acting city manager.
Non-Partisan Association Councillor George Affleck said this latest move in senior management is a sign that Vision Vancouver is doing a terrible job of managing the city. And, he said, it seems to be more about politics than anything.
“Vision is just trying to refresh their brand,” he said.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Kirk // Sep 17, 2015 at 11:15 am
I was happy to hear Robertson say that this is part of his promise to change the way City Hall has been operating. His apology during the election campaign doesn’t ring as hollow in my ears anymore.
Have there been any changes to media accessibility to staff, FOI requests, etc?
2 leechap // Sep 17, 2015 at 2:15 pm
If anything this firing only demonstrates that Robertson’s promise was indeed hollow. Penny Ballem did not fit well with Vision’s ivory tower City Hall. She was the most accessible City Manager I’ve ever dealt with by a country mile.
3 boohoo // Sep 18, 2015 at 8:47 am
Here we go.
‘Ballem is the worst! Fire her! She’s horrible’
Ballem fired.
‘Vision is the worst for firing Ballem! This is just politics!
yawn.
4 Marilyn Michaels // Sep 18, 2015 at 9:19 am
There were rumors months ago that she was going to retire so I find it interesting that instead of retiring she is let go. Why do I think she got the Mayor and Council to fire her so she could get a large payout? I guess there is no severance if she retired.
5 Morven // Sep 18, 2015 at 9:59 am
After reading about Brian Jackson’s tirade, my sympathies are with Ms. Ballem for having to deal with intransigent city planners and a city council that never seems to do any policy analysis.
Ms. Ballem always replied promptly to any e-mail. City councillors, with one exception, never replied to e-mails. So who had the best sense of communication ?
-30-
6 jolson // Sep 18, 2015 at 10:19 am
Why now? Hopefully we will now get a balanced City Report
on the future of the viaducts, a science based, evidence based study that
considers not just demolition but also retention and new pedestrian, bicycle,
and vehicular connectivity to Clark Drive via Malkin with flyovers at Prior
Street and the rail lines. Traffic relief for Strathcona, better connectivity
to the new hospital site and the soon to be developed False Creek Flats from
both the east and west directions. Let’s see the GHG picture for this scenario
compared to the demolition scenario. Let’s see the Greenest City Action Plan in
action!
7 jenables // Sep 18, 2015 at 1:15 pm
Surprising that different people could voice different opinions, or even just be disturbed by the rapid pace of change, isn’t it? Your position, of course, is remarkably consistent; derision of anyone criticising the current administration. Yawn.
8 leechap // Sep 18, 2015 at 2:43 pm
yawn indeed
Penny Ballem believed that City staff ought be be accountable to citizens, in real terms and real time. I can provide numerous examples of this. This had to make her very unpopular with the keep ’em in the dark and circle the wagons gang at The Hall.
9 boohoo // Sep 18, 2015 at 2:58 pm
Not my point. Mine is simply the sillyness with which these kind of things go down. You’ll never satisfy some people, even if you do exactly what they’ve been asking for for years.
10 boohoo // Sep 18, 2015 at 2:59 pm
Your first sentence has nothing to do with anything here.
And your second is of course missing the point. I’m not pro or anti her firing, I really have no opinion. It’s the silly hypocrisy I read here and other places. For years people have been ranting about how bad she is etc. Now she’s finally fired or dismissed or whatever, and everyone’s all a twitter about how that happened.
If I had been whinging about something for years to happen and it finally happened, I don’t think I’d then whinge about how it happened…who cares! You got what you want!
11 jenables // Sep 18, 2015 at 7:08 pm
But she wasn’t fired over any of the things we were complaining about. That’s the thing. She was allowed to do massive amounts of damage or “change” as our mayor calls it, step way, way, outside the boundaries of her position, drive out many of the staff who had won accolades previously, seal records regarding what the cov ACTUALLY spent on the Olympics, change communication policies, tell councillors (Carr) that they can’t bring motions forward, and much more, and certainly more than we are aware of. This went on for YEARS. She is never rebuked or punished or fired until now, suddenly for no discernable reason other than vision wants someone fresh. Are we supposed to connect this firing to her misdeeds? I don’t think you can appreciate the mass exodus that occurred at city hall. Frances has written about it before. Do you really think this isn’t worthy of discussion? Really, the explanation that makes the most sense is Marilyn’s above. I
12 leechap // Sep 18, 2015 at 10:46 pm
Your point makes no sense. You are replying to me as if I demanded she be fired and now I’m singing her praises. Some people thought she should be fired but I wasn’t one of them. Maybe it’s better she’s gone, but in my opinion the serious problems at City Hall are systemic and political, not due to the style of any staff member.
13 Look Deeper // Sep 21, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Really this is a win, win, win.
Ballem gets to head off into the sunset with a huge lump sum to add to her pension that she should otherwise have walked away from if she just retired — and at 65 she must have been planning to retire in the near future. Who wouldn’t want to pocket $500,000 — thats a lot of Starbucks coffees.
Robertson gets to claim he is cleaning house and is setting a new course — listening to his citizens.
And more importantly Vision gets to appoint the next City Manager who will likely survive longer than the current Vision administration — so they get to reinforce their social engineering of Vancouver over the longer term. And watch, they will include an equally rewarding severance package for the new Manager so if any future administration wants a change it will cost taxpayers big time again.
For the rest of us the consequences are less clear — we can only hope that if the stories of her bullying management style were true, then the administration within City Hall may improve — after all, it takes a team to run a City even when a strong leader is required to get the team moving in a consistent direction.