Unstable

If Abbotsford’s not careful, it could find itself repeating the events of 2018. That was the year it lost its longtime clerk-treasurer and had to make do with a high-priced interim administrator who took the reins at city hall until a full-time administrator could be found.

The transition from a clerk-treasurer to a city administrator came at a steep price. Abbotsford ended up having to pay the interim administrator an outrageous $75 per hour just to keep the city’s day-to-day operations going, and even that was not enough. A full-time deputy clerk-treasurer was also hired during this period, and after several part-time employees came and went, a full-time administrative assistant was also added to the staff.

Before the shake-up, city hall had been run for years by a single full-time clerk-treasurer with several part-time assistants, which was not always enough. However, in more than one editorial in 2018, we warned city officials about the expanding payroll at city hall, and questioned whether the city had a sound financial plan in place to make sure it could afford three full-time staff at city hall.

At the time, switching to a city administrator was very much in vogue, so much so that city offi cials were willing to shell out $6,000 to a search firm to help find the right candidate. By the end of 2018, the city council had hired Dan Grady as the city administrator and signed him to a threeyear contract. Council members in favor of hiring an administrator even made it more difficult to get rid of the administrator by requiring a two-thirds vote, instead of a simple majority, to terminate his or her employment.

Now, in the early months of 2021, it seems like the city administrator form of government is at risk of falling apart. An evenly divided council was unable to agree on a new three-year contract for Grady, and several council members and the mayor are openly suggesting that the city switch back to a clerk-treasurer position. This isn’t entirely surprising, since three members of the council — Roger Weideman, Brent Faber and Jim Weix — have always been on record as being opposed to having a city administrator.

Still, Faber was right when he said this whole process has not been fair to Grady. He was hired in 2018 as an administrator, by city officials who were willing to support him with a substantial salary and two full-time employees assisting him at city hall. Now, those same city officials can’t even bring themselves to renew his contract.

What has changed? In the roughly two years Grady has been here, he has navigated the city through some complex and controversial issues, the biggest of which was the establishment of the Schilling subdivision on the city’s north side. That project had already begun when Grady was hired, so he inherited the task of making sure the new residential development came to fruition. It’s true that the Northside Apartments have stirred some animosity among residents, but the decision to approve those apartments was the council’s.

Here’s the pattern we can’t help but see: elected officials in Abbotsford make decisions about the future of the city — whether it’s hiring a city administrator or starting a subdivision — and if those decisions are not universally popular, they take it out on city staff. At times, they seem to assume the worst about the people they employ, and eventually, those people decide to leave for less hostile working environments. Taxpayers are stuck with a city government that’s trapped in a constant cycle of upheaval.

This needs to stop. Abbotsford’s city council and mayor need to somehow coalesce around a sustainable plan for operating the city. Micro-managing and petty conflicts need to be set aside in favor of cooperation and mutual respect. That doesn’t mean there won’t be disagreements — this is Abbotsford, after all — but those differences of opinion can be settled through the normal process of governance. Stability should be the ultimate goal.

The Tribune-Phonograph editorial board consists of publisher Kris O’Leary and editor Kevin O’Brien