Greater Victoria’s controversial sewage treatment project is getting a new director, with a salary so large it will likely raise eyebrows.
Albert Sweetnam was named Wednesday as the incoming sewage treatment program director by the Capital Regional District’s civilian commission of wastewater experts.
He’s a former vice-president of nuclear projects at Ontario Power Generation Inc. and a former vice-president at engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.
“We were very impressed with Albert’s breadth of experience,” said Brenda Eaton, commission chairwoman. “For us, obviously a key thing is he’s good at project development and knows how to develop a project and bring it in on time and budget.”
With a budget of $783-million, the CRD sewage treatment plan is one of the largest projects in the region’s history.
Sweetnam will be in charge of signing contracts, overseeing construction and guiding the plan to completion by 2018.
He’ll earn $290,000 annually, plus benefits, on a five-year contract, said Eaton.
That’s more than any other civic or regional public official on Vancouver Island, and more than most deputy ministers and cabinet ministers in the B.C. government. It’s also roughly $100,000 more than Jack Hull, the retiring interim project director whom Sweetnam is replacing.
“I know this is difficult for the CRD and for CRD politicians to feel comfortable with,” said Eaton. “And I realize in our context … it does seem like a high salary. But for a project director of a project this size, if you look at what individuals earn across the country, you’ll find this is a very moderate salary for a project like this.”
The salary was set by the civilian commission, not regional politicians. Putting the commission of experts in charge of day-to-day decisions on the project was a condition of provincial and federal funding.
It’s also a big pay cut for Sweetnam, who earned $834,095, plus benefits, at his Ontario power job in 2012, according to public records.
A Toronto Star report on Sweetnam’s departure from Ontario Power Generation in March noted he left abruptly due to what a power spokesman called “a mismatch of management approach.”
The commission did not ask specifically about Sweetnam’s departure from Ontario Power Generation, but it did “extensive reference checks for people who had reported to him and worked with him,” Eaton said. “His references are incredibly strong.”
At SNC-Lavalin, Sweetnam was project director of the $5.3-billion Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar.
One investor in the project, Takota Asset Management Inc., has called for a potential lawsuit against SNC-Lavalin for cost overruns and delays on the project, according to a National Post report in May.
Eaton said Sweetnam was involved in “the early stages” of that mine project and “the reference checks that we got didn’t lay any negatives or blame at the feet of Albert.”
She said Sweetnam is excited to tackle his new job, and travelled to Victoria to visit various sewage sites before accepting the post. Though he lacks a background in sewage treatment, Sweetnam will have expert advisers on technical issues, Eaton said.
He starts Sept. 9.
