City manager will pocket up to $800K in severance pay
Gurpreet Singh
Now Contributor
Surrey city manager Umendra Mital has resigned from his post following reports about differences with Mayor Dianne Watts.
Mital submitted his resignation to city council this week. He will leave the job on March 31.
A 12-year employee at city hall and close friend of former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, Mital could earn as much as $800,000 in severance pay.
"Mr. Mital's departure is part of a mutual agreement with the Mayor (and) unanimously supported by Surrey Council," reads a Feb. 2 statement from the mayor's office.
However, Surrey Electors Team (SET) councillors have expressed frustration over the departure of Mital, who is credited by some for bringing large-scale development to Surrey.
Two SET councillors, Judy Higginbotham and Linda Hepner, said Thursday that Mital had to resign after he found it difficult to work with Watts. Hepner said Mital has been working in an environment where his abilities weren't being valued.
Higginbotham said SET did not want Mital to leave his post: "If we (SET) had continued with our previous administration, this would not be happening."
She said Mital opted to leave because Watts did not want him to continue his work.
Higginbotham said SET regretfully supported Mital's resignation only when the agreement he had with the city was honoured.
On Friday, Watts denied Mital's resignation was the outcome of her differences with him.
"There was no animosity between Mr. Mital and me. I have worked with him for many years," Watts told the Now.
Reacting to the allegations made by Hepner and Higginbotham about Mital being uncomfortable working under her, Watts said this question should be directed to Mital, who could not be reached for comment.
Watts would not reveal the severance amount paid to Mital, saying the information is confidential and shall be made public after the next city council meeting.
According to Higginbotham, Mital will be paid close to $700,000 in severance money as part of his agreement with the city. Hepner, however, said the figure is in the neighbourhood of $800,000. Both councillors said Mital was entitled to this money under the terms and conditions of his contract with the city.
Both SET councillors denied Mital's resignation had anything to do with the sexual harassment complaints that rocked city hall last year. A city employee lodged a complaint about sexual harassment against a manager but a settlement was reached with the complainant.
Ex-mayor McCallum ordered a lawyer who was hired to look into the allegations to confine his inquiry to a single instance, despite indications there could be other complaints involving the same manager. According to Local 402 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which filed a grievance last fall over the way the allegations were handled, several other women had come forward with accusations of their own.
Following the election of Watts, who defeated SET's McCallum in November's civic election to become Surrey's first female mayor, a consultant was hired to review the way the harassment case was handled. Last month, the city announced the matter had been resolved and that nine politicians and 1,500 employees would take mandatory training to recognize signs of sexual harassment and verbal intimidation.
Mital leaves a job that paid more than $250,000 a year in total remuneration. According to the city's 2003 statement of financial information, Mital topped a list of 153 city employees who made more than $75,000 annually.
Mital is recognized as a pro-business ally of McCallum. In January 2005, the pair jetted to China and India on a two-week, taxpayer-funded "friendship city" visit to Asian burgs in order to build economic and cultural ties.
-with files by Ted Colley
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