Accused of mismanagement, CEO Peter Kelly could leave the city of Charlottetown

Peter Kelly has been under criticism for weeks.

The senior manager is alleged to have fired two deputies after they raised concerns about his management and the city’s finances.

Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown has confirmed that a disagreement between city councilors is the cause of the delay in Peter Kelly’s departure.

” We tried to get agreement or consensus among all board members. We haven’t gotten to that point yet. »

The board met behind closed doors for more than three hours on Monday night to discuss those severance terms.

The meeting was nevertheless interrupted before a decision was taken.

According to Philip Brown, the Charlottetown council will have to meet later in the week to discuss the file.

Peter Kelly declined to comment after Monday night’s council meeting ended.

In a statement sent to CBCCanadian Broadcasting Corporation last week he admitted that his situation had become untenable.

There is a clear need to review practices, policies and procedures. Ultimately, I want to ensure that the expectations of staff, Council and residents are metdid he declare.

The allegations

Former city deputy directors Scott Messervey and Tina Lococo believe they were fired by the city manager in retaliation for identifying and reporting administrative problems at city hall.

Documents exchanged between these two whistleblowers and the council of the city of Charlottetown on this file were made public by CBCCanadian Broadcasting Corporation last April.

The irregular overspending of millions of dollars in city investments is among the list of problems spotted by Scott Messervey during his time at city hall.

The overspending was allegedly approved by Peter Kelly when, under the Municipalities Act, such spending only had to be authorized by the city council.

Scott Messervey also denounced the existence of a possible large number of errors in the city’s financial statements, when Peter Kelly allegedly ignored the advice of the finance staff on this matter.

A tender was also reportedly conducted outside of the city’s regular procedures.

Meals and allowances were also allegedly paid irregularly to advisers and staff.

In an email sent to members of council, Tina Lococo pointed out problems with the city’s human resources policies.

She also pointed to an increase in the number of complaints from employees to their union regarding management at City Hall.

Peter Kelly also reportedly asked that certain information from staff exit surveys not be passed on to city council.

The unhealthy working environment

In an anonymous letter recently sent to city council, four City of Charlottetown staff members denounced the city as an unhealthy place to work.

A copy of this letter was presented to the Provincial Legislative Assembly by Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker on May 5th.

These employees attribute responsibility for such working conditions to the city’s general manager, Peter Kelly.

The City of Charlottetown is a workplace controlled by fear, patronage and liesthe officials write in the letter.

These employees also urged the council to open an investigation into the management of Peter Kelly.

The provincial government abstains

During the spring parliamentary session, opposition MPs repeatedly called on the island’s government to start an investigation into the affair.

For the provincial Minister of Communities, Jamie Fox, the controversy should be settled by the city of Charlottetown internally, since it was a problem of human resources.

Jamie Fox also said that the Municipal Administration Act gives him a lot of power to act, but that he would not be ready to do so yet.

Peter Kelly was the mayor of Halifax from 2000 to 2012 and has worked for the City of Charlottetown since 2016.

He was also the subject of allegations of municipal law violations when he was chief executive of a county in Alberta between 2014 and 2016.

With information from Kerry Campbell and Steve Bruce, CBCCanadian Broadcasting Corporation