Falls CAO’s contract extended: FOI documents reveal
City was not trying to hide contract: City clerk Matson
The city has given chief administrative officer Ken Todd a six-month contract extension.
Todd signed a contract with the city Dec. 31, 2014 for CAO services between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2019.
In a May 23, 2019 letter to Todd from director of human resources Trent Dark, the CAO is offered an extension from Jan. 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020.
The letter states the city is “pleased” to offer Todd the contract extension “on behalf of the mayor and city council.”
The letter, which is marked private and confidential, has come to light following a Freedom of Information request by A Better Niagara, a not-for-profit group that pushes for government transparency, accountability and integrity.
Details related to Todd’s 2014 contract were also released through an FOI request. The May 23, 2019 letter states the general terms and provisions are “identical” to the contract signed in 2014 with some exceptions – one being the new salary range for the CAO position will be $190,000-$230,000 per year.
In the 2014 contract, Todd’s payment was $175,157 per year with eligibility to receive annual general increases equal to and in accordance with the city’s management workforce.
According to Ontario’s most recent public sector salary disclosure list, Todd was paid a $213,530.23 salary in 2018, with $24,639.64 in taxable benefits.
City clerk Bill Matson said the Municipal Act allows council to meet behind closed doors for certain matters, including personnel.
He said during a May 14 in-camera meeting, council gave staff direction to extend Todd’s contract.
Todd said it was council that approached him about two months ago and asked him about his future.
“I hadn’t really considered it much,” said Todd.
“What our thoughts were, in light of the whole (provincial) governance piece, it might be a good idea to be here to kind of help guide council through whatever that might be.”
The province announced in January it would put the regional government system in Niagara under review, along with seven other Ontario regional governments and Simcoe County.
At this point, it’s unclear once the governance review process is completed whether the status quo of 12 municipalities and one regional government in Niagara will remain in place.
“What we’ve kind of talked about with council is let’s deal with (the contract) on a sixmonth basis because we really don’t know what’s going to happen with governance,” said Todd.
“The municipal makeup in the region may be completely different six months from now.”
Todd has been with the City of Niagara Falls for more than 10 years after holding similar positions in St. Catharines and Thorold.
The 63-year-old said it has been “a great honour” to serve in the top senior staff position in his hometown.
Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni said while council was in the loop about Todd’s recent contract extension, it was not “properly informed” about his 2014 contract.
Ioannoni said there are clauses in Todd’s 2014 contract “I find very concerning.”
One of her concerns was a clause that stated: “Upon the expiry of this contract term on Dec. 31, 2019, it is agreed and understood that you shall not have any further rights or entitlement to a further contract with the City of Niagara Falls.”
Ioannoni said she has pensionrelated questions that have gone unanswered, and questioned why council did not address the Todd extension during the open portion of the meeting.
Matson said the city’s legal department told him “when there’s just direction to staff, there is no reason to rise and report or to ratify the actions of council in an open session.”
“It was just direction to staff to go ahead and proceed with council’s wishes. It wasn’t thought as something that needed to be discussed in open council. There were no details at that time as to what that contract would entail.”
He said it’s different when council, for example, makes a specific decision during an incamera meeting to, for example, sell a piece of property. In that case, council would rise and report to the motion and ratify the decision during the open portion of the meeting.
Matson said the city was not trying to hide the contract from the public.
“As soon as the FOI request came in … our CAO felt that ‘I’ve got nothing to hide, if people want to see it, here it is,’ so that’s why it was released.”
Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said the proper process was followed both for the 2014 contract and the recent extension.
“We knew all the information,” he said.
Diodati said it was a good decision to extend Todd’s contract for six months.
“There are so many questions around the governance review and (possible) amalgamation that we felt, in fairness to Ken, in fairness to the taxpayers, six months buys us enough time to at least get us beyond the information that we’re going to receive from (the provincial government) … and what it’s going to look like and then we can make some informed (long-term) decisions,” he said.