NPCA managers in $100K club
Agency releases 2018 salary information as ordered by privacy czar
The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has released the salaries for its $100,000 club for 2018, showing how much six senior staff earned while the organization was embroiled in a leadership crisis.
The information was released Tuesday afternoon to comply with the orders of Ontario’s privacy czar, who rejected the agency’s argument that its top salaries should be kept secret.
The NPCA published the list on its website. It includes the position and salaries, but not the names of the staff members. NPCA spokeswoman Erika Navarro said the order from the Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner was only for salaries from November 2018, and not names of the people who held those positions.
However, The Standard has confirmed the names of the staff in the NPCA $100,000 club, which includes its two senior leaders who were at the heart of the 2018 crisis there.
At the top of the list is former chief administrative officer
Mark Brickell, who was paid $156,267 that year. Former corporate services director David Barrick was paid $147,383.
In late 2018, Brickell fired Barrick. The outgoing board of directors, led by Brickell ally and former Fort Erie regional councillor Sandy Annunziata, then fired Brickell.
The board appointed the NPCA’s clerk, Lisa McManus, as acting CAO. In her only act in that position before going on leave, McManus rehired Barrick, who was then made acting CAO by the board.
Brickell recently settled a $2.3 million wrongful dismissal suit with the NPCA for an undisclosed amount of money.
Barrick, who was acting CAO for three months, was recently hired as CAO for the City of Brampton.
The third-highest salary belonged to former watershed manager Tarueq Al-Zabet, whose pay was $130,274.
However, Al-Zabet had only been in his position for a short time and was fired by Barrick a few days after Barrick became acting CAO.
Earning a salary of $110,347 in 2018 was former operation and special projects manager Greg Furtney.
He drew the ire of Hamilton city council in January when, as acting corporate services manager after Barrick’s promotion, he was unable to answer questions about the agency’s budget.
The final two salaries belonged to finance manager John Wallace, at $102,035, and information and technology manager Geoff Verkade, whose salary was also $102,035 and had been previously disclosed by the NPCA.
The order to release the salaries stems from a freedom of information request filed by local activist and now NPCA board member for St. Catharines, Ed Smith.
The NPCA had refused Smith’s request for the salaries and he appealed, resulting in the order.
Smith said Tuesday he is also appealing the NPCA’s refusal to release other financial information, including Barrick’s salary as acting CAO as well as the salaries of those he promoted into director jobs after he advanced in rank.
Smith is also appealing the NPCA’s decision not to disclose details of Barrick’s contract and the settlement the board gave him when he left the agency in February.
The NPCA has an annual budget of approximately $10 million.