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Municipal Politics

occidentalcapital said:
Why would you say he's bad to work with? I have heard the opposite so this surprises me
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For City Council, he has actively worked to undermine their priorities on a consistent basis. IMO, he is a bad faith actor who acts independently in a manner that is counter to good city governance.

Recent examples include: Collaborating with EPS on encampment sweeps that went against council policy, foot dragging on any bike lane infrastructure, and ignoring council direction to consider climate change in planning. The most egregious example: https://x.com/troypavlek/status/1599611765054410753?s=20

I claim no knowledge that he is bad to work with as an executive. I specifically worded it as wondering based the number of his immediate executive team that have left in the last year. In my experience when you see that happen there is often, but not always, a toxic work environment involved.
 
I suspect Corbould's days as city manager are numbered. He is absolutely incompetent. Sources tell me McPhee may also be about to be shown the door. Both men have actively ignored the City's priorities.
 
He's exactly what the City needed through the pandemic imo. He has a long time history in provincial government and has a relationship with the UCP, unlike most of our current Council members. We wouldn't be getting anything from the province if it wasn't for him and a few others.

He is City Council's only employee, it's up to them if he continues or not. But I believe he's been fantastic for this city during his time. We sometimes need a bureaucrat to get stuff done. Some of what Council wants isn't even achievable, municipalities don't have the resources or control. He has been asked to cut more than $300m from the operating budget while Council still spends more than they have. That's a really hard balance -- keep council happy while operating a municipality. No one would ever do that job too long.
 
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trevorhayden said:
Sources tell me McPhee may also be about to be shown the door
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I don't have enough knowledge to judge the Courbould situation, but McPhee has already overstayed his welcome. Honestly, I'd love for us to source a Chief of Police that is an actual bloodhound, for a change.
 
All this turn over of senior management without much explanation is concerning. Perhaps City Council has more information about the situations, but if not they may want to look into this further.
 
Greenspace said:
He's exactly what the City needed through the pandemic imo. He has a long time history in provincial government and has a relationship with the UCP, unlike most of our current Council members. We wouldn't be getting anything from the province if it wasn't for him and a few others.
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None of those things are his job. If he wanted that job he should have run for City Council or Mayor. It would be the same problem if we had a Conservative council and an NDP aligned City Manager was ignoring their direction. Your clear disregard for democratic governance because the guy ignoring our elected officials aligns with your values is disconcerting.
 
That's not at all what I said. And City Council is in it's right to fire him at any time. Is he actually ignoring their direction? The encampment issue for example is exactly as Council directed in policy, they've just changed their tone recently due to some feedback. I'm not actually sure what they're doing doesn't meet their policy, please correct me if I'm wrong. Council declared a housing emergency as a response but changed nothing related to how it deals with encampments.
 
My take is that it's part of City Manager's job to be blunt and honest with council. You need someone who can say what needs to be said and be accountable for controllable outcomes. Someone who simply says yes to everything, never challenges or briefs council on issues with their decisions could have been the cause of some of the problems to date with the city. I don't think he's supposed to be a lackey.
 
Another very senior and impactful position will soon be open with Adam's departure. While I might have not always been overly supportive of the department's delivery models and performance, Adam was one of the most thoughtful and kind people at the COE.
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  • Adam Laughlin, the deputy city manager for Integrated Infrastructure Services at the City of Edmonton is set to leave his position on Feb. 2, Postmedia reported. His departure marks the fifth high-ranking official to leave the city’s executive leadership team in the past year, following a series of departures that began in March 2023. Laughlin has been with the city since 2005 and played a key role in Edmonton’s infrastructure projects and pandemic response.-Taproot
 
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