Dave Devana, who was North Cowichan’s chief administrative officer for seven years before he left the municipality in March, 2017, received just shy of a full year’s wages in severance pay last year.
According to the recently released Statement of Financial Information for North Cowichan in 2017, which was prepared by external auditors Grant Thorton LLP, it was reported that Devana received a total of $224,119 in remuneration from the municipality last year.
That’s despite the fact that Devana left North Cowichan for undisclosed reasons in early March in 2017, just a little over two months into the new year.
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Devana started his new job as the CAO of Cochrane, Alberta, in October, 2017.
According to North Cowichan’s Statement of Financial Information for 2016, Devana received $193,485 in remuneration for that year.
The financial report for 2017 indicates that there was just one severance agreement between the municipality and its non-unionized employees in 2017, which represented 11 months of compensation.
While municipal officials have stated that they can’t comment on any aspect of Devana’s departure as it’s a personnel matter that can’t be discussed in public, Devana was the only non-unionized worker in the municipality who received a severance package in 2017.
When asked if Devana was the worker in question, North Cowichan’s finance director Mark Frame said he couldn’t discuss it, but people “can draw their own conclusions.”
According to the financial report, 58 employees in North Cowichan received more than $75,000 in remuneration in 2017.
Overall, the total amount paid out to employees in 2017 was $14,691,978.
As for elected officials, the total amount paid out was $198,117.
Mayor John Lefebure was reported to have made $60,919, while pay for councillors ranged from $22,248 to $24,715.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
