Mayor Shari Green says a series of behind-the-scenes events have raised concern that Tim McEwan may have been "double dipping" by accepting severance from Initiatives Prince George at the same time he had already been named head of the province's major investments office.
On Jan. 27 - three days before McEwan's departure from IPG was made public - Green said IPG board chair Glen Wonders told her McEwan and the board "mutually" parted ways.
Green said she then met with area MLA and provincial cabinet minister Pat Bell the next day on unrelated matters "and he shared with me that he was hiring Tim."
That raised alarm bells for Green.
"If a public employee is negotiating a terms of severance knowingly going to another public sector job, in the eyes of the taxpayer that's double dipping and certainly negotiating in bad faith," Green said Tuesday.
"And I don't know if that's what Mr. McEwan did in this case because I don't know the details around him and what he said to who, when and where, but in the eyes of me and many that would certainly be something to be genuinely concerned about."
McEwan's departure from IPG was announced Jan. 30 and his hiring as head of the new major investments office in Bell's ministry was made public Feb. 26.
She said city council had nothing to do with McEwan's departure, maintaining the city's service agreement with IPG leaves hiring, firing and salary negotiations to the economic development organization's board of directors.
"We have an agreement with them to deliver economic development service and how they do that is theirs to manage," Green said. "So when they have an employee that they choose to sever their relationship with, that is not a city employee, that is an IPG employee."
Green said she has consistently urged the organization's board of directors to make any pay out public knowledge.
"I've been asking them to from the beginning and they will tell you that I have been," Green said. "I have been asking repeatedly to hand over this information."
The Citizen has filed a freedom of information request with IPG on the matter.
Green said council's next step will be to make sure the new service agreement, which has remained unsigned while the search for a new CEO continues, provides greater oversight from the city.
"That we either have final approval of contracts before they're signed or some kind of legal opinion, we'll have to discuss that and flesh that out and get some advice on it, but we need to make sure that the taxpayer of Prince George is protected," Green said.
