The City of Nanaimo is defending itself against a claim from a human resources consultant by stating that it never received any report of work alleged to have been carried out.
No binding agreement was arranged in 2015 between the city and the Integrity Group, of Vancouver, the city states in its response to a claim from the Integrity Group.
The Vancouver consultant launched its action in B.C. Supreme Court on Jan. 18.
The Integrity Group claims that Nanaimo owes it $52,573 for work performed in 2015.
It said it was hired by Mayor Bill McKay in a May 2015 meeting. The hourly rate was $295 per hour and the agreement was that it would include work carried out since January of that year.
Nanaimo citizens watched as an acrimonious tone unfolded at city hall that year. Kim Smythe, chief executive of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, said at the time that “toxic relations” among council members was one reason there had been little progress on important local issues.
Nanaimo said in its claim response that the city was not part of any negotiations or discussions between the Integrity Group and McKay. It also denied that the company and McKay carried out negotiations.
As well as not entering into a binding agreement, the city did not agree to paying an hourly rate, the document said. No report, summary or anything else coming out of work the consultant said it was hired to do was provided to the city.
McKay did not have the authority to hire the Integrity Group, the city said.
The Integrity Group’s representative was a “legally sophisticated individual who was aware that the mayor did not have the legal authority to unilaterally bind the defendant,” the city said.
In a July 2015 interview with the Nanaimo Daily News, McKay said he began searching for a consultant in December 2014 to help improve the atmosphere around the council table.
McKay said the Integrity Group had carried out several one-on-one interviews, some taking several hours each, with councillors and the then-city manager Ted Swabey, according to the newspaper.
In 2016, a confidential email that McKay prepared for the consultant in 2015 was made public by a citizen who said he found the report on his car windshield. Council members were angered by comments made by McKay, who described some councillors as bullies, mentally ill, and another as a follower.
In 2016, Tracy Samra, who took over as Nanaimo’s chief administrative officer, said the mediator had billed $50,000. Nanaimo needed to verify services were provided and that there was something in place authorizing those services to be delivered, she said.
Nothing has been proven in court. A court date has not been set.
