Fired city manager received $849,319 in severance

Financial documents show the City of Regina paid its outgoing city manager over $930,000 in 2022, after firing him from one of the municipality's top administrative roles in the first few months of the year.

According to recently released public accounts summaries, former city manager Chris Holden received $849,319 in severance and other termination pay from the city following his early dismissal last February.

He was also paid $86,722 in regular pay for two months' service before city council voted for his removal.

The figures were shared publicly in the City of Regina's 2022 annual report, which lists the details of employee remuneration in accordance with The Cities Act. The reports were presented to the audit and finance committee at a meeting last week.

Holden's sudden termination ended his employment contract two years before it was set to expire in 2024, and concluded 40 years of working for the City of Regina in a variety of roles.

In interviews following the vote, Mayor Sandra Masters said the change was a strategic decision, not a reflection of city council's confidence in Holden as an employee.

She said council felt “new leadership was needed” to successfully pursue major projects on the horizon.

Current city manager Niki Anderson took over the office in early November 2022.

A written statement from a City of Regina spokesperson offered on Monday said the ensuing remuneration payments following Holden's dismissal represent the circumstances of his termination and contractual obligations between employer and employee.

The former city manager's contract was cut short “without cause,” said the statement, and remuneration was delivered according to “the provisions of his employment contract.”

Masters had indicated at the time of dismissal those terms would include 17 months of severance pay plus the base requirements, according to Saskatchewan's labour law.

The statement issued Monday clarified that Holden was paid remuneration that includes “severance, vacation payout for earned vacation, retirement allowance, car allowance, and supplementary pension plan payment.”

The city manager is among the highest-paid roles in the municipality, collecting a salary of $291,451 in 2021.

With the upcoming retirement of city solicitor Byron Werry at the end of June, announced earlier this month, city hall will have weathered five major administrative shuffles since the beginning of 2022.

A month after Holden's removal, executive director of city planning and community development Diana Hawryluk “mutually parted ways” with the city after 10 years of employment.

Two months later, newly appointed chief transformation officer Louise Folk also resigned, after nine years of working in various other roles.

Interim city manager Jim Nicol said both exits were amicable, and neither was related to the high-profile departures that had come before.

Hawryluk received $253,592 in other remuneration and Folk received $46,345 in 2022, according to the disclosed figures in the city's report.

Kim Onrait, executive director of citizen services, has also retired as of the end of May.

Kurtis Doney, director of water, waste and environment, has stepped in as acting executive director in the interim.

Collectively, the city paid out just over $1.14 million in additional remuneration to the three senior executives who exited in 2022.