Dan Fumano: Departing city manager Sadhu Johnston leaves on his own terms

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Noting that councillors sometimes spend hours on the council floor “going down a rabbit hole” and debating “small amendments that are not that important,” Johnston said, he has “encouraged them to be strategic about the amendments.”

“I do think they are putting the time in and they’re getting stuff done,” Johnston said. “But they’re going to burn themselves out, though, as well, if they’re not strategic about what they spend their time on.”

Johnston has also been rising to his feet more frequently during this term’s council meetings, compared with previous terms, interjecting to advise council when, for example, someone wants to propose an amendment that might be illegal or otherwise ill-advised.

“It’s interesting in this role, I have to tell my bosses all the time that I don’t recommend that they do what they’re proposing to do,” he said. “It’s a pretty uncomfortable position. You’ve seen me tap-dancing on the floor of council. … And they don’t always listen to me, but they always hear me.”

Johnston’s salary last year was $362,000, placing him among B.C.’s best-paid municipal government employees. He’s leaving the job on his own terms, he says, without severance pay. In contrast, Johnston’s predecessor Penny Ballem received more than $550,000 in severance when she was fired in 2015.

Johnston’s not sure what he’ll do next professionally, but said spending more time with family is the first priority now.

Johnston lives most of the time in Strathcona, while his daughters, now 14 and 10, and his wife live more than 250 kilometres north up the coast, on Cortes Island. Johnston regularly travels back there, but that trip — which usually includes some combination of float planes, multiple ferries, hitchhiking, driving and busing — is a schlep, often taking eight hours or more each way.