Retired city auditor surprised by firing of his former deputy
The city’s former auditor general said he was surprised to learn his one-time lieutenant was fired from the office after his successor took over.
Alain Lalonde, who retired from the AG job at the beginning of 2014, declined to address the meat of the allegations in Raymond Kostuch’s lawsuit against the City of Ottawa, but he defended Kostuch’s work over the 10 years they worked together in the auditor’s office.
“I was really surprised when (Kostuch) was let go,” Lalonde told the Citizen on Friday. “(Kostuch) is an engineer and on top of that he’s a CA (chartered accountant). It’s something you don’t see. You cannot get that type of person even if you try.”
Lalonde said he wasn’t shocked to find his name woven into Kostuch’s wrongful termination lawsuit, which names the City of Ottawa has the sole defendant, since they worked together for years.
Kostuch was terminated as deputy AG on June 22, 2015. He unsuccessfully competed for the AG job when Lalonde was retiring. Council appointed Ken Hughes, the former deputy treasurer of revenue, to the AG post.
In his lawsuit, Kostuch alleges Mayor Jim Watson didn’t like that he had ties to the Tories. Kostuch ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1999 provincial election. Watson, who was chair of the AG hiring panel in 2013, is a former Liberal MPP.
Kostuch also makes accusations against his former boss, Hughes.
A judge has not tested the claims in the lawsuit. The city said it doesn’t comment on matters in the court.
Lalonde said he had trained Kostuch to become AG since the deputy expressed interest in the job.
“I felt it was my role to prepare a valuable option for council,” Lalonde said.
Lalonde admitted he was surprised to see council select a bureaucracy insider for the AG job. It would be a surprise if any organization appointed an existing staffer for the audit role, he said.
“In general, it’s rare to see an organization go inside for that type of position because usually you want it to be independent and not have any (internal) ties,” Lalonde said. “When I came to the city, I came from outside. I knew nobody, so (the work) was never personal.”
At the same time, Lalonde recognized Hughes’s pre-AG work at city hall. “Ken is a good guy. He did work really hard for the city and proved himself,” Lalonde said.
Lalonde declined to comment on specific allegations on the lawsuit, including the claims related to the politics in the AG hiring process.
In the lawsuit, Kostuch alleges Lalonde was part of a conversation with councillors Rick Chiarelli and Allan Hubley in which someone said Watson “raised Kostuch’s involvement with the Conservative party as a reason not to appoint him to the AG position.” jwilling@postmedia.com Twitter.com/JonathanWilling
(Raymond Kostuch) is an engineer and on top of that he’s a CA (chartered accountant). You cannot get that type of person even if you try.