Ousted Town of St. Paul CAO Harvey Filger says issues surrounding the golf course and his handling of town administration issues were at the root of his termination last month.
“I think they looked to point fingers, they pointed the finger at me,” he said, of what he called the golf course “fiasco.” He noted Recreation Director Gary Ward came under similar fire from council, but had lots of popular support from people who came out in droves to support him at a March 14 council meeting.
At a special meeting of council on March 29, a majority decision saw Filger - who was hired last October - fired on the spot. And while town councillors are not saying a lot about why the decision was made, citing it as a personnel matter, the man at the centre of the issue is not holding back his thoughts.
When speaking of his hiring in October of last year, Filger explained he didn’t have the need to work, but when the opportunity came up to work at the Town of St. Paul as its CAO, he thought he could relish a new challenge.
“I like doing mega projects . . . I thought this would be a challenge to do a mega project,” he said, adding he had one or two business cases he was hoping to advance within the town. “My one question was, ‘Do you have any challenges?’”
He said he was told the town didn’t have major issues, which, in his opinion, was far from the truth.
“Next time people tell me there are no challenges, I’m probably going to get it in writing,” he said.
Even following his termination, Filger may still be in the news in St. Paul, as he says he plans to take action against golf course executives for “slander and libel.”
“They slandered me and I’m going to take action . . . The universe will unfold as it should,” he said, adding that because the Town of St. Paul provided him and Ward with indemnification letters, protecting them from liability on any actions arising from the golf course issue, he looks forward to the town paying his legal bills on any action he takes.
As for the matter of his severance, he refused to say how much that covered, saying that too would be a matter for the courts.
Filger first started working for the town last October, at which time the golf course executive approached council with a request to bail out the golf course when the non-profit board ran out of money to pay its bills. Council decided not to do so, and terminated its land lease with the golf course, leaving the Town of St. Paul responsible for assuming nearly $1 million as the guarantor for the golf course’s loans.
Ward and Filger worked together on handling the golf course issue, and both rejected an initial offer from the golf course executive for the town to purchase the golf course assets at $534,715, with Filger saying some of these assets were not in fact owned, but leased, by the golf course.
In late November, Filger and Ward showed the Journal a letter sent from the Town of St. Paul to the golf course executives to pay, from personal resources $36,900 to the town, based on what the letter described as “blatantly false” representations of the club’s finances. Those representations had led to the town agreeing to guarantee an increase in the golf course’s line of credit, charged the letter, which asked the club and golf club executives Danny Gadowski, George Parrott and Maurice Brousseeau to pay back the amount or face legal action.
At the time, councillors expressed some concerns that council had no knowledge of the letter before it was sent, although Mayor Glenn Andersen said at the time, “Administration has to do what’s best for the town.”
“Gary and I, we worked together on this file and everything was done with the lawyer’s advice. We didn’t do anything without that,” Filger said of town administration’s handling of the golf course situation.
Eventually, the Town of St. Paul came to an agreement with the golf course executive not to take legal action against the board or its members, and to purchase assets at a value of $140,000, so that the golf course executive could pay back money owed to Canada Revenue Agency and its former staff.
“I suspect councilors didn’t like the way it was being handled,” Filger said, adding he thought some councilors might have wanted administration to recommend writing out a cheque to clear the golf course’s debts so that it would absolve them of tensions with golf course members.
In the desire to have a functional golf course in 2016, the town put out a request for tenders, looking for people to lease and run the restaurant and pro shop.
The town shortlisted tenders, and council was very taken with one presentation in particular, Filger said, adding the presenter would have made anyone’s mouth water as he focused on his plans for the restaurant.
“This guy was a long way from being able to run a restaurant in a month,” said Filger, saying the interested party didn’t have its term sheet and financials lined up, and council ended up spending a month negotiating with him before finding out he was not a seriously interested party and was accepting another job offer. The town has since brought in Bonnie and Vince Cianfagna to run the restaurant and pro shop, but Filger said these golf professionals with a track record of experience and success could have been in place a full month earlier if the town hadn’t wasted time with the other party.
As the town was dealing with the aftermath of the golf course issues, rumours began to circulate that council was looking to fire Ward as the recreation director, despite the fact he was a long-standing volunteer involved with many non-profit groups. Residents attended the March 14 council meeting to press the rumours, and were informed by mayor and council that they only had one employee, the CAO, and they were not involved in staffing decisions.
Filger disputed this claim, pointing to a printout of an email from Coun. Ken Kwiatkowski requesting a meeting to discuss staffing, dated Dec. 30, 2015. While he didn’t end up attending that meeting, Filger said he was told by a councilor on another occasion that four other councilors wanted him to fire Ward, but that he would have to wear the decision on his own.
“I’m not averse to firing people; I am averse to walking employers into a lawsuit,” Filger said, adding he had no doubt the Town of St. Paul would be opening itself up to such a suit by firing Ward. He pointed to Ward’s wide-ranging support, and added that he told council that if councilors wanted to have someone fired, they would first have to build a file or a case for dismissal.
One of the issues that council members flagged was that Ward had approved the spending of $10,000 to fix a boiler at the pool, said Filger. Councillors said they felt that expenditures for amounts over $10,000 should have to go to council, but Filger said there was no policy in the books stipulating this arrangement.
When Ward told people about the pressure he was facing from council, the public reaction was vociferous, with 30 people attending the March 14 council meeting to speak in his defense.
“I think people were surprised at the public reaction,” said Filger, noting he didn’t blame Ward for soliciting support.
Ward has not been let go, but council voted to terminate Filger’s employment last month.
According to Town of St. Paul special meeting minutes, the town received legal advice on the termination of its CAO.
At the first special meeting held on March 23, Kwiatkowski made a motion that the two documents received from Brownlee LLP - a formal termination option with a hearing and a negotiated severance option - should be placed on Town of St. Paul letterhead and given to Filger by the mayor, a motion that passed with the support of Councillors Edna Gervais, Dwight Wiebe and Norm Noel, and with the mayor and Councillors Don Padlesky and Judy Bogdan voting against the motion.
At a March 29 morning meeting, a special meeting was called and held in camera, in which Filger gave his statement. After going out of camera, Kwiatkowski made a motion to terminate the CAO immediately as per the terms of his employment contract, with Bogdan and Andersen again voting against the motion.
There were a few loose ends that Filger noted he was leaving behind; he said he had pushed to have items like getting Microsoft Office licenses for all the computers, that had long been without licenses, and on getting a remote service for all IT needs.
He also said he and his counterpart in the county, CAO Sheila Kitz, were working together on a business plan to see if they could help Evergreen Regional Waste Management Commission climb out of its constant deficits, which Kitz confirmed was the case.
He also cited getting public works in order as an issue that town council had flagged to him when he first started working. The superintendent position for public works has undergone some state of flux since Filger was hired in October.
But Filger said the town’s major issue is in getting its finances in order, by being more aggressive in going for grants and having a competent financial manager in place. Filger claimed that the town’s books are “a mess,” and said that it wasn’t noticed until earlier this year that $1.8 million in federal and provincial moneys owed to the town in 2015 did not arrive, until he noticed the discrepancy. In the last two years, the town’s auditor has filed two management review letters that have been critical of the town’s finances, he said.
Filger said he asked the town’s auditor, Barb McCarthy of JMD Group LLP, for help in pushing for a qualified person to handle the town’s books, and with that support, was successful in having the town hire Holly Habiak as the director of finance.
He expressed support for Habiak, saying, “You have a competent person. She should be allowed to do her job,” adding that he believes Habiak should have the say over staffing to make sure the town’s finances are handled properly.
However, when contacted by the Journal, McCarthy said that while it is typical to file a management letter citing areas that need improvement, she did not flag any major issues with the town’s financial management.
“The town did need a financial officer and they have that,” she said, adding this should help the town in its finance management. “The books weren’t perfect. They’re getting better.”
As for the missing $1.8 million, it had more to do with confusion caused by a changeover in staffing, from one CAO to another, with a report that wasn’t filed on time, McCarthy said, as she noted the money was eventually delivered earlier this year.
“It was just the timing. It wasn’t a big deal.”
When contacted for comment on Filger’s termination, councilors offered some general comments but cited concerns about discussing personnel issues on record.
Andersen noted, “I don’t know where it’s going, so it would be remiss to comment.”
In the wake of Filger’s termination as CAO, Habiak has since been tasked as interim CAO.
