Sadhu Johnston named Vancouver city manager
A renter, he cites housing affordability, as a priority
In his seven years living in Vancouver, Sadhu Johnston has earned a lot of firsthand experience dealing with the biggest issue facing the city.
The newly appointed city manager is still a renter — despite a six-figure salary — and he and his family now live in Strathcona after some colourful adventures in the city’s housing market.
“We’ve lived in a house that we were renting with squirrels and skunks and raccoons literally in the wall right next to us, that we paid way too much for,” Johnston said.
“I moved here from Chicago where we owned a beautiful three-bedroom unit in a really nice vintage building on the lake, and came here and found that, even with a really good salary, it was really hard to purchase.”
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson announced Johnston’s appointment to the city manager position on Thursday, praising his leadership and innovation. Johnston replaces Penny Ballem, who was fired in September. He’s been serving as acting city manager in the interim, a promotion from the deputy city manager job he took on in 2009.
Housing affordability and homelessness will be a priority for Johnston, as will the Healthy City Strategy and projects like the public bikeshare program and removal of the downtown viaducts.
But he said he would also like to focus on improving the delivery of city services — things like removing litter from public spaces and speeding up the time it takes to get a building permit.
“We are financially constrained, and have more and more demands on us, and so finding ways to … work innovatively is important,” Johnston said.
His predecessor, Ballem, was often criticized for what some described as a controlling and demanding management style, but Johnston said his approach is more “collaborative.”
The new city manager has led a globe-trotting life: He was born in England, lived in India as a child, and later spent seven years working for the City of Chicago as the chief environmental officer.
But he did visit Vancouver frequently during his childhood to see family, and even got a behind-the-scenes look at a central moment in the city’s history thanks to his handyman father.
“He was laying the tile in the Mexican pavilion for Expo in ’86, so I got to hang out with him a bit on the job site,” Johnston said.
Johnston will earn an annual salary of $316,000, with yearly raises of at least two per cent, as well as a transportation allowance. His employment agreement also lays out the necessary severance payments if he loses his job: from 13 months’ salary if he’s let go without notice before Aug. 17 of this year, to 18 months’ pay if he is fired after Aug. 17, 2025.
Ballem was paid $556,000 when she got the axe last year. City officials have yet to reveal the cost of the four-month search to find her replacement.
Meanwhile, Vancouver is still searching for a new manager of planning and development to replace Brian Jackson. Jackson announced his retirement in July and worked his last day at City Hall in November.
A city spokesman was unable to provide an update Thursday on that recruitment process.