Brickell wants his NPCA job back
Recently fired Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority chief administrative officer Mark Brickell is demanding to be immediately reinstated and receive retroactive pay to avoid a legal confrontation.
In a letter to Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley, Brickell’s lawyer also says NPCA’s former chair Sandy Annunziata, its vice-chair James Kaspersetz and the rest of the board did not have the legal authority to fire Brickell on Dec. 6.
“There appears to be no doubt that persons associated with the NPCA’s previous board of directors directed the termination of our client’s employment at some point in time after they had ceased being members of the NPCA board and after others had been duly appointed to take their place,” wrote lawyer Stephen Moreau.
“Once a statutory power of governance was taken away, it followed that a statutory power’s exercise through termination of the CAO could not be so exercised.”
The Dec. 10 letter, obtained by The Standard, also provides a view into a frantic hour of political activity on the evening of Dec. 6, as regional council voted to replace NPCA board members while those same board members moved against Brickell.
According to the letter, the board informed Brickell by email he had been fired, without providing a cause, nearly an hour after the 12 Niagara members on the 15-person board had been replaced by regional council with interim members.
His firing came after a week of tension between Brickell and the NPCA board. According to Moreau’s letter, it began on Sunday, Nov. 25, when Brickell was asked to attend a Nov. 28 NPCA board meeting.
On Monday, Nov. 26, Brickell appeared before St. Catharines city council, and told councillors they did not need to ask for a provincially-appointed supervisor to oversee NPCA because a new board of directors would soon installed.
“It’s time for the politics to quiet down and let us (the NPCA) just do the good work we do,” he told city council.
On Nov. 28, Brickell went to an NPCA meeting in Niagara-onthe-Lake but was not allowed to enter the meeting room.
After waiting for 90 minutes, Brickell met privately with Annunziata, Kaspersetz and human resources consultant Misti Ferrusi.
“Mr. Brickell reports that he was advised by the chair that he was being placed on administrative leave (with pay) and that he was being asked to take twentyfour (24) hours to think about his situation,” Moreau wrote. “The vice-chair, as we understand it, put the point more bluntly, telling our client that he had to either resign or face a termination of employment for alleged cause.”
That cause was never disclosed, the letter says.
On Dec. 4, the NPCA board held another closed-door meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake to discuss a personnel issue.
Two days later, at 5 p.m., regional council voted to replace all Niagara members on the NPCA board with a new group of councillors to serve as an interim board.
According to Moreau, Brickell received an email from the NPCA board saying he was fired — again without saying why — 53 minutes after the Region had relieved most of its members of duty.
“The old board could not exercise a power of termination because they had no authority over the NPCA,” the letter said.
Moreau said incoming NPCA board members may be “fully apprised of the facts” and may be in the best position to deal the issue before Brickell has to take further legal action.
“Our client’s request is a simple one: he requests reinstatement without delay and that any compensation taken away from him after Dec. 7, 2018, be restored retroactively. Given that the NPCA and/or its former board have taken steps to announce an interim CAO appointee, it may behove regional council to move with all available speed to remedy the problem.”
Bradley said he has forwarded the letter to the Region’s external lawyer so councillors can have a legal opinion for Thursday’s council meeting.
“They need that information so they can take whatever action is necessary,” said Bradley. “However, that letter is best addressed to the NPCA itself.”
Moreau did not reply to an interview request from The Standard Tuesday, but in his letter said “we do not know who to address this letter to at the NPCA.” The letter was forwarded to Ferrusi “so this letter may be drawn to the attention of whoever styles themselves as holding authority over the NPCA’s affairs.”
It is unclear if the previous board is still making decisions at NPCA. Neither NPCA acting
CAO Lisa McManus or the agency’s spokesman, Michael Reles, responded to interview requests for this story, and did not answer questions about who is governing the authority.