One of the City of Penticton’s top managers, Doug Leahy, has quietly left his post as the city’s controller.
According to city manager Annette Antoniak, Leahy’s employment with the city came to an end in the last week of January, the result of a chain of events that began in Sept. 2013.
At that time, the city quietly switched two of the top managers, with Colin Fisher, formerly the city’s controller, replacing Leahy as chief financial officer, and Leahy taking over as controller.
The switch was initiated at Leahy’s request, according to Antoniak, because he felt that with the time commitment in doing the CFO job, he was having difficulty with getting a proper life-work balance.
“We said at that time we would sit down and review it in January, which we have done,” said Antoniak. “It just didn’t work out.”
Antoniak wouldn’t say whether Leahy voluntarily left or the city terminated him, only that “it was an understanding between both parties.”
Though both positions are high in the city’s hierarchy, with the CFO responsible for the city’s multi-million dollar budget, the city did not issue a press release regarding the original swap or Leahy’s departure.
It has not been decided yet whether there will be a search to find a replacement controller and Mayor Garry Litke has indicated the city may look at restructuring the financial department.
Leahy, formerly the treasurer for the Regional District Okanagan Similkameen, left to work at the city in 2006.
Fisher was hired about three years ago as controller, with a primary focus on overseeing the city’s financial productivity software conversion.