Regina City Council votes to fire city manager Niki Anderson

Regina City Council voted to terminate the contract of city manager Niki Anderson near the beginning of Wednesday’s council meeting, with the decision taking effect immediately.

The recommendation passed 10 to one, with all members of council except Ward 8’s Shanon Zachidniak voting in favour.

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“What I’ve heard from numerous residents since starting city council is that they have no desire to see the city and our partners continue to fire people without cause and pay out folks for terminating them without cause,” Zachidniak said.

“Since I’ve been elected, over a million dollars have been paid out to folks on a without-cause basis, and I’ve heard from folks resoundingly that it’s time that that ends, and I fully agree. So I will not be supporting this.”

Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli agreed about the issue of staff turnover but still voted in favour of Anderson’s firing.

“There have been too many changes. I support this change, and hopefully this will be the last time so we can be stable again,” he said.

Anderson has been on leave since April due to a personal matter, according to Mayor Chad Bachynski.

City clerk Jim Nicol will continue his duties as acting city manager, with deputy city clerk Amber Ackerman filling in as city clerk.

Anderson’s chief of staff, Ly Pham, was also fired in April.

Anderson had been city manager since November 2022, taking over from Chris Holden who was also dismissed by council. He was paid $849,319 in severance and “other pay” after his dismissal.

Shortly after taking up the role, Anderson was subject to a lawsuit by former councillors Dan LeBlanc and Andrew Stevens, who took legal action against her for not including funding for homelessness as a line item in the 2023-24 city budget.

Response from the mayor 

After the meeting, Mayor Chad Bachynski was asked about the reason for Anderson’s dismissal.

“I can tell you that council decided to go a different direction and we’re going to be looking to get someone in place to align with our strategic direction and our direction as this new council,” Bachynski said.

However, Bachynski did not elaborate on how Anderson was incompatible with council’s direction.

Since Anderson was fired without cause, she will be paid a severance — a number that Bachynski said will be made publicly available at a later date.

The mayor was also asked about the message it sends for two consecutive city managers to be fired.

“At the end of the day, we decided today to go a different direction, council voted to go a different direction in terms of our city leadership and that’s the direction that we took today,” he said.

Bachynski said he wasn’t able to comment on what the process to find a new city manager will look like or if the recent firings of city managers will influence potential candidates applying for the opening. However, the mayor did say the search for a new city manager will begin as soon as possible.

When asked, Bachynski said he couldn’t say whether or not Anderson received notice of her termination prior to the meeting and also declined to speak on when the idea of firing Anderson was put forward as an option, saying it was a “personnel matter”.

Bachynski also declined to say whether or not the dismissal was related to Anderson’s leave of absence.

Anderson was the highest-paid city worker in 2024, earning $317,112.