Victoria city council has decided to let it's City Manager go after 3 1/2 years on the job. Mayor Lisa Helps says Jason Johnson was hired to be an agent of change at city hall, and she says his work is now done.
" We hired him to accomplish a certain mandate which was to basically modernize and transform our organization, to increase transparency, to fix our multiple business processes, and he's done the work that we asked him to do. And now council is making a change and looking forward."
Within 6 months of Johnson's arrival 3 senior managers left , and the project manager for the Johnson Street Bridge was replaced. Helps says Johnson has finished what he set out to do, and he leaves City Hall a better place:
"He built the team around him that he needed to do the job to deliver on council's objectives. And the team he's left us with is probably the most talented municipal team in the province right now'
Helps says the parting is amicable. Johnson will receive a transition package worth $270-thousand. Meantime Deputy City Manager, Jocelyn Jenkyns has been named Acting City Manager.
Johnson has not been seen at a city council meeting since July, but when asked why CFAX was told it was for personal reasons. Johnson is quoted is a news release saying it's been a pleasure serving the City of Victoria, and expressed confidence in his acting replacement.