S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 26 NO. 23
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Former employee sues city A MAN who served briefly as the city’s chief administrative officer last year is suing for wrongful dismissal. Don Ramsay, who was hired in March 2012, says his June 2012 resignation was made under “duress and through misrepresentations” and so is invalid, indicates his statement of claim for a BC Supreme Court case to be heard next month. At issue is a June 26, 2012 meeting between Ramsay and mayor Dave Pernarowski at which Pernarowski told Ramsay city council was recommending he be dismissed because it decided he wasn’t suitable for the position. The city offered, through a letter given to Ramsay at the meeting, the opportunity to resign with a severance package of two
week’s wages in return for waiving the right to a hearing. Under the Community Charter which governs municipalities, employees can be fired if they are given the opportunity to be heard by council and given reasonable notice, or compensation in lieu of notice. If he did not accept the offer, Ramsay would be suspended immediately and a special in-camera council meeting scheduled to let him be heard, the notice said. Ramsay, in his claim, said he was not given any opportunity to receive advice about the letter and was told if he did not sign the letter, he would only get one week’s notice of termination instead of two weeks’ pay and that by signing the letter he would be entitled to severance that the city otherwise
did not have to give him, Ramsay’s notice of civil claim said. “Because of the aforementioned reasons and representations, (Ramsay) signed the letter,” his claim states. The provincial Employment Standards Act does state an employee is entitled to one week’s wages as compensation after three consecutive months of employment. In his statement of claim, Ramsay says he did sign the letter but was wrongfully dismissed and so “has lost his compensation package for the period of reasonable notice.” And he says he “did not voluntarily resign his employment as his decision to sign the letter was based on misrepresentation made by (the city) through Mr. Pernarowski which was deliberately misleading and de-
signed to make (Ramsay) waive his right to common-law reasonable notice.” The city deserves to be punished by the court as its actions were “harsh, vindictive, reprehensible, and malicious....,” states Ramsay’s claim. When dismissed, Ramsay was entitled to a compensation package which included an annual salary of $133,000 set to increase to $140,000 a year on Sept. 12, 2012. The package included a full range of medical and other benefits. Ramsay is seeking damages for breach of contract for wrongful dismissal, punitive damages, interest, the costs of the civil case and anything more that the court deems just, the notice said.
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City recycling contract on hold
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ Art appreciation simone klein and her daughter Sierra take a look at some of the 100 canvases up for silent auction as part of the Terrace Art Gallery’s 30th anniversary celebrations Sept. 14. The silent auction is underway now but the 6”x6” canvas live auction is set to go Sept. 27 to raise money for the gallery.
CITY COUNCIL members are in Vancouver this week trying to find out how a curbside recycling program set for introduction here next May, could change. The city had already agreed to the broad terms of a contract and had been ready to sign to provide the service in conjunction with a new agency called Multi-Material BC on Monday. But it delayed the move Sept. 13 after the agency said it was willing to give municipalities more time to consider its offer to finance the service. Multi-Material BC is made up of retailers and producers of packaged products charged with increasing the amount of material that can be recycled. It’s given the municipalities the option of collecting the material themselves through a subsidy. Otherwise it will hire someone else to do the job. Council July 22 decided to undertake curbside recycling itself by picking up material every two weeks with garbage collection taking place in the off weeks beginning May 19, 2014, the start date set out by Multi-Material BC. The material would then be taken to a Multi-Material BC depot for sorting and shipping. But a growing number of municipalities last week expressed worries about overall costs of the program, prompting Multi-Material BC to make its announcement. “The program I know probably worked quite a lot better for a municipality like Terrace that didn’t have any [curbside recycling] program in place,” said Terrace mayor Dave Pernarowski of the decision to hold off signing the contract until it learns more about possible changes. “So I understand the concerns that would be expressed by other communities that this wasn’t quite the program that fit perfectly, but I would hope that the further discussions don’t delay our ability to set up a curbside recycling program.” Pernarowski said the city will learn more about possible changes this week at the annual convention of the Union of BC Municipalities. The mayor said that he doesn’t foresee that there will be a dramatic change in Terrace’s contract, but he hopes that the new terms might include lighter contamination penalties.
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Reaching out
Which mountain?
No more team
Teen starts non-profit to provide necessities of life for Ugandan orphans \COMMUNITY A17
A broader view of the conflict between a mining company and the Tahltan\NEWS A5
Terrace River Kings need more support or this could be their last season \SPORTS A10