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VOL 118 NO. 16
Page A16
Rehiring city CAO is ‘a lark,’ says Pharand
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Donald Pharand is upset about the termination and rehiring of CAO Doug Allin. Craig Lindsay photo
A recent CBC story is garnering a lot of attention in Grand Forks. The story features an interview with a local resident who is questioning the decision of the City to rehire Doug Allin as CAO, after paying out his severance package. Donald Pharand said he was stunned when he heard about Allin’s rehiring and he filed a Freedom of Information request to find out exactly what happened. “I’m upset that the city is spending all this money—the $192,000 payout at the end of the year and then the rehiring,” said Pharand. “That the city hired him back, it’s like: what’s going on here?” Pharand said that the story has not been covered much by the media but now that the information is coming out in a press release after an FOI request, he’s left wondering. “It answered some of the questions that people wondered,” he said about the release. “Now it’s coming out. It’s like the optics aren’t very good.” Allin had been CAO for almost two years when he and the previous council agreed
that he would leave the organization. According to the Dec. 31, 2013 Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) report, Allin made $142,995.04 in 2013. The severance agreement between the city and Allin stated that he would be compensated for one year of salary and benefits for a total of $191,321.10. The actual payout to Allin was $115,577.30. The contract further outlined that Allin would act as a consultant to the city for a period of six months through Urban Systems. He would also retain use of a laptop and cell phone, which he continues to use. Allin’s current contract with the city is for three years at $133,000 in annual wages. The contract includes five weeks of vacation and a contribution from Allin of 400 hours of overtime to offset the severance package. Pharand said there must have been a problem with Allin for council to relieve him. “We don’t know what the problem was but there definitely some serious problem and then they bring him back,” said Pharand. “I don’t buy that he’s the best qualified and that he’s the only one who • See REHIRING CITY CAO page A7
Fire destroys house
Fire crews responded quickly to a house fire on Como Street in the South Ruckle area in Grand Forks early Tuesday morning. “We got called about 4:15 a.m. Tuesday morning,” said Fire Chief Dale Heriot. “When we arrived we fought that the structure was fully involved with fire. We evacuated the residents on either side of the structure.” Heriot said there were three fire engines on scene and 27 firefighters on hand. “We had to do a defensive fire attack because the structure was too involved to go into the interior,” he said. “Our first job was to protect the exposures, which were the two houses on either side. Other than some minor damage, we did okay at that.” Heriot said there was no one in the house as the resident was outside at the time of the fire. There were no injuries reported. Heriot added that the fire is still under investigation at this time. “The fire is still under investigation and it’s undetermined what the cause of the fire was,” he said. Heriot said crews took about 45 minutes to knock the fire down and then went into mop-up mode, which took another few hours. “Much of the house was a total loss,” he said. “The roof an everything collapsed so there was a lot of smoldering rubble. That fire took quite a while.” A neighbour, Bujor Tanasescu, praised the quick work of the fire department in stopping the blaze and keeping it from spreading to nearby houses. “Our firefighters are my heroes,” he said.
CRAIG LINDSAY
Grand Forks Gazette
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Firefighters check on the damage caused by a fire at a house in the Ruckle area on Tuesday morning. Bujor Tanasescu photo
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