Former CAO’s deal shrouded in secrecy
Most duties, and the salary, in Eric Sorensen’s contract with the City are being kept from the public
Judging by his heavily censored contract, one might think former Penticton city manager Eric Sorensen is now consulting on matters of national security.
Sorensen cited personal reasons when he announced in August he was resigning after 13 months on the job, but planning to stick around until March as a consultant.
It’s still unclear, however, what he’ll be doing until then.
All but one of the 16 tasks set out in his contract were redacted by the city in its response to a freedom of information request from The Herald. Also redacted — presumably — are the terms of Sorensen’s employment, such as pay, benefits and hours of work.
Corporate officer Dana Schmidt said the information was redacted to protect both Sorensen’s personal privacy and the city’s business interests.
But that explanation doesn’t wash with the director of the B.C. branch of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“It is very rare to see an FOI come back without compensation disclosed — in fact, most that do are overturned when appealed to the information commissioner,” said Jordan Bateman.
“This is because most people understand that disclosing the cost of an employee or contractor is in the public interest. Penticton should release the unredacted contract before the commissioner forces them to.”
Bateman also took issue with the city putting its business interests ahead of taxpayers’ right to know how their money is being spent.
“The business interests of the city are the interests of the taxpayers, and the taxpayers deserve to know what they are paying Mr. Sorensen, and for what,” he said.
The city announced in a press release Aug. 19 — the same day he inked his new contract — that Sorensen the consultant would focus on “strategic priorities,” such as a shared services initiative with other public sector organizations in the region, budget preparation, “financial sustainability” related to the infrastructure deficit and maintaining “key relationships” with community partners.
Providing “expertise and guidance” on the shared services project is the only task in Sorensen’s contract that was not redacted in the FOI response.
The other 15 jobs listed require him to provide expertise, guidance and support to senior staffers on mystery projects and execute a number of mystery agreements.
Sorensen couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
A message to his old city-issued email address drew an automated response referring inquires to the acting city manager.
His profile on LinkedIn, a business networking website, states he’s currently employed by Toronto-based Sapient Mentoring and Consulting.
Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said in a statement he stands by the decision not to release Sorensen’s contract in full.
“The majority of projects that Eric has been tasked to lead revolve around strategic or business opportunities that are sensitive, and/or still being negotiated and vetted; which is why they were redacted,” he said.
“Some of the projects that I can share revolve around finalizing details between Gateway Casinos with the city and Penticton Indian band, helping with (city manager) recruitment, Trio Marine negotiated settlement, 2017 budget, fostering relationships with community stakeholders, infrastructure deficit/city financial sustainability and shared services.”
Jakubeit said staff “typically do not disclose employment contracts,” but that a list of suppliers paid more than $50,000 and employees who earned over $75,000 are reported annually in a statement of financial information.
He noted there are no “incremental costs or changes” to the city’s budget as a result of Sorensen staying on, which will “allow for continuity and ensure we wouldn’t lose any momentum with respect to city priorities.”
Prior to joining city staff in July 2015, Sorensen worked in the private sector, where he spent time in executive positions at Kraft Foods Group, Warner Lambert and SunRype.
His replacement at City Hall, Peter Weeber, starts later this month after spending the past two years as chief administrative officer for the District of Mackenzie, a community of about 4,000 people in northern B.C.