Tales Of The New Crown: Toronto Fires Its Emergency Manager - Michigan Did Not Take Notes

How is it the City of Toronto established an administrative structure to be able to remove an Emergency Manager?

Detroit, Flint, Hamtramck and Benton Harbor could not fire their Emergency Managers, but then again, we would have to ask Don McGahn about how the Michigan Emergency Law came into existence, since no one wants to recognize his dedicated passion in the identification of the need for Detroit to file bankruptcy, in the first place.

We can not ask Travis Weber about Don McGahn's work at JonesDay with Kevyn Orr or Bill Schuette, but we could ask Richard Baird because Travis is no longer viable to give testimony.

Michigan should take notes.

City of Toronto fires director of Office of Emergency Management in middle of COVID-19 crisis

The decision to replace the top emergency boss just as Ontario declares a state of emergency will be cause for public concern

The City of Toronto has abruptly fired the director of its Office of Emergency Management, Charles Jansen.

Jansen said he was relieved of his duties on Wednesday by a deputy city manager and human resources official, who told him the city is taking the office in “a different direction” and that they were worried Jansen “might not be the right fit.”

The decision to replace Toronto’s top emergency official just as Ontario declares a state of emergency because of a major pandemic will be cause for public concern.

“I’m devastated,” Jansen said in an interview. “It was, for me, what I thought was the perfect calling.”

Jansen said no conflict had occurred, other than perhaps in terms of strategic vision, because he is a lifelong military man among city bureaucrats.

The dismissal is within a six-month probationary period that started when Jansen was hired in October, he said.

“I’m still debating about whether I believe the terms are fair or not,” he said.

He described guiding the city’s concepts and specific plans for emergency management, said he enjoyed the work, and believed it had been going well before the pandemic began. One of his first major incidents to manage was a high-rise fire that displaced residents last November.

Jansen was until last year director of 4th Canadian Division Headquarters in Toronto, after serving in finance and operations roles in the Canadian Armed Forces. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 to 2009 in a logistical role.

The City of Toronto said it does not discuss personnel matters, and said the Office of Emergency Management has been led since the onset of COVID-19 by Fire Chief Matthew Pegg.

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