Two more, this time from the legal department. The count is now: “Replaced”: 1; Retirements: 4; Quitting to Go Somewhere Else: 4 for the first nine months of the new Vision Vancouver administration. I am wondering if these two will be replaced under the current hiring freeze and given what I had always heard about Vancouver’s legal department, which was that it was huge. (Any comments, city hall insiders?)
From: Connell, Francie
To: Robertson, Gregor; Anton, Suzanne; Cadman, David; Chow, George; Deal, Heather; Jang, Kerry; Louie, Raymond; Meggs, Geoff; Reimer, Andrea; Stevenson, Tim; Woodsworth, Ellen; Magee, Michael; Quinlan, Kevin; Dobrinskaya, Maria; Arisheh, Alison; Corporate Management Team (COV) – DL; Law Staff – DL; Flanigan, Michael; Toderian, Brent; Windsor, Barb; Johnston, Will; Warren, Christine; Bradshaw, Garrick; Rolls, Bob; Sweeney, Steve; LePard, Doug; Schnitzer, Steve; Stamatakis, Tom; Prosken, Brenda; Graham, David; Wilson, Gary; Robbins, Carlene; Henderson, Paul; Stewart, Wendy; Kay, Monica; McKenna, Liane; Ho, Anita; Rutgers, Piet; Kuran, Peter; Merchant, Greg; Simatos, Penny; Naklicki, Andrew; VanKemenade, Ingrid; Jenkins, Robert; Coulson, Marg; MacKenzie, Janice; Hancock, Paul; Williams, Rhys; Davidson, Jill; Harvey, Sue; Crowe, Brian; Potter, Vicki; Ackerman, Rae; Antoniali, Susan; Au, Wendy; Barnes, Gary; Baxter, Joanne; Belanger, Lynn; Best, Laurie; Bremner, Peter; Bruin, Penny; Davis – Johnson, Kate; Dawes, Betty; Evans, John (Eng.); Evans, Jerry; Gordon, Michael; Honey, Muriel; Hui, Tony; Hunter, Jack (IT); Inglis, Brian; Jackson, Oi-Lun; Doge, Trish; Lee, Mario; Lemcke, Warren; Michaels, Rick; Montpellier, Paul; Smith, Ian; Howard, Ronda; Toneguzzo, Peter; Vaisbord, Peter
Sent: Sun Sep 13 11:10:26 2009
Subject: Law Department retirements
I am writing to advise you that Graham Johnsen, Assistant Director, Development and Real Estate, and Patsy Scheer, Assistant Director of Legal Services, General Litigation, will be retiring at the end of this month, after many years of distinguished service to the City of Vancouver.
Graham joined the City Law Department in 1985, and has practised as a solicitor, taking on the position of Assistant Director in 1996. Graham has been responsible for the legal work on numerous large and complex land development projects for the City, including the Bayshore and Marathon Coal Harbour developments, the Fraser Lands development, Library Square and the Convention Centre Expansion. Graham’s work on these and many other development projects in Vancouver has contributed to Vancouver being recognized as one of the most livable cities in the world.
Patsy, who joined the Law Department in 1989, and took on the position of Assistant Director, Litigation, in 1996, represented the City at all levels of court in B.C. and before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. She has guided the City through countless major litigation cases, successfully defending the City’s interests in a wide variety of challenges, including the litigation which arose as a result of the Stanley Cup riot, the challenge to the construction by the Park Board of the Watermark Restaurant at Kits Beach, the Burrardview zoning challenge, the challenge to the City’s anti-smoking by-law, matters relating to the Board of Variance and, most recently, before the CRTC.
Both Graham and Patsy have been valuable members of the Law Department, always willing to share their expertise and experience. Their collegiality and friendship have contributed to the success of the Law Department and made our work together rewarding. Their professional expertise and dedication to the City of Vancouver over many years will be greatly missed by me, by the members of the Law Department, and by all those who have had the privilege of working with them over the years. I will personally miss their friendship and support. We wish them much happiness.
Francie
F. J. Connell
Director of Legal Services & City Solicitor
City of Vancouver
Law Department
4 responses so far ↓
1 Brenton // Sep 13, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Any idea how many people left city hall after Sullivan was elected? Or Larry Campbell? The procession of stories on people leaving city hall has become it’s own story, and I wonder if it doesn’t need some comparison.
2 The Watcher // Sep 13, 2009 at 4:13 pm
this is starting to get into serious navel gazing territory. I get the fact that it’s news about a CFO leaving, but the assistant director of legal services?
unless they’re holding a joint press conference with Jody Andrews and James Ridge, not quite sure what the news is.
as for Sam Sullivan’s tenure – which by the way got approx zero coverage in terms of staff departures being related to the council- off the top of my head:
Jamie Graham – police chief
Brent Macgregor – deputy city manager
Estelle Lo – cfo
Larry Beasley – co director of planning
Ann Macafee – co director of planning
Nathan Edelson
Jacquie Forbes-Roberts
Jeff Brooks – social planning
Tom Osdoba – head of sustainability
Catherine Clement – director of communications
Syd Baxter – city clerk
3 rebecca // Sep 13, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Osdoba shouldn’t be in that list. He “left” a couple of years ago. On his own free will? Who knows. Clement left a couple of years ago as well for another job in the private sector. Those aren’t big stories. Nathan retired. The only one to still wonder about is Estello Lo in my eyes.
4 Boomer or Bust // Sep 13, 2009 at 10:49 pm
How much of this is just the dominant boomer class finally reaching retirement age?
Over the next five years we should be seeing mass retirements in every industry.
Perhaps a better story would be the impact the boomer retirements will have on the city’s bureaucracy instead of just trying to politicize every departure.
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