City Manager Marnie Cluckie has repeatedly told the Council and the media that organizational changes are forthcoming, especially in recent months.
Nonetheless, today’s announcement that two general managers have been dismissed came as a surprise to everyone at City Hall.
I approached eight councillors today to seek their comments.
All declined, citing the suddenness of the announcement. They expressed genuine surprise. One councillor, who had been in a committee meeting all morning, hadn’t yet read the internal email announcement.
(The Councillors approached are: Maureen Wilson, Cameron Kroetsch, Tammy Hwang, Tom Jackson, Brad Clark, Jeff Beattie, Alex Wilson, and Mike Spadafora.)
The City can ill afford to take even 14 weeks, let alone 14 months, to hire the next General Manager of Public Works.
It has been over a year since Jason Thorne resigned as General Manager of Planning and Economic Development to assume the role of Chief Planner in Toronto, and no replacement has been hired yet.
Time is of the essence; the next municipal election is now less than 18 months away.
If Mayor Andrea Horwath wants to implement changes to the City’s culture, reverse the continuing declines in public trust, and address the City’s continuous failures in national report cards, then her City Manager needs to have the new GMs in place quickly, completely the next stages of organizational changes by the end of summer, get an action plan passed by Council no later than October, all to ensure implementations are complete by this time next year.
Much like reading the paragraph above, there’s a lot to do, and little time to do it.
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Published: April 23, 2025
Last updated: April 23, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
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