Mystery still surrounds departure of city transportation boss

Did Mac Logan receive a severance payment when he stopped working for the City of Calgary last month?

If he did, no one's talking about it.

After serving more than seven years as the top official in the city's transportation department, the city said that Logan and city manager Jeff Fielding reached a mutual decision on Dec.8 that Logan would resign.

No reason was given for his departure.

Members of council refused to talk about the issue, calling it a personnel matter.

'Not dealt with politically,' saysNenshi

Mayor Naheed Nenshi was asked by reporters on Monday how much Logan was paid as part of his resignation.

The mayor said he's not aware of the payment.

"This is something that was not dealt with politically at all," said Nenshi.

He was asked further if a non-disclosure agreement was signed regarding a severance payment, preventing the city from releasing any information.

• Calgary's transportation manager resigns from senior city role under mysterious circumstances

"If there was a non-disclosure agreement, then I don't see how it could be. By and large, I just believe in transparency in general," said the mayor.

A spokesperson for the city said there was a discussion about confidentiality between the city and Logan. Vicki McGrath tells CBC News that the city will not be breaching that arrangement.

Not everyone is happy with that.

Councillor plans to push for reforms

Coun. Jeromy Farkas says healso doesn't know the details of what happened with Logan and his severance.

But he does say that these are tax dollars and Calgarians should know how much senior officials take with them when they leave city hall.

He compares the city to a similar-sized private company and the measure of accountability that's provided to shareholders.

"When you had a major shakeup of a senior executive team, you have immediate accountability to shareholders," said Farkas.

"This is sort of the lens view through which I view this."

To that end, Farkas is planning to bring forward a proposal soon that would require greater transparency.

"Broadly speaking, this policy and how the city conducts itself needs to change and I'm going to be pushing for more specific reforms in the coming weeks."

Salaries for the city's top department officials, or general managers, are set by Fielding.

The city's salary disclosure list for 2017 pegged the pay range for GMs as being between $190,500 and $321,500.

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