Regina Mayor Chad Bachynski says council voted to go in a new direction with the firing of city manager Niki Anderson.

“Council made a decision this was in the best interest of the city and that’s that is the rationale,” Bachynski told reporters following Wednesday’s meeting. “We’re going to be looking to get someone in place to align with [the] strategic direction of this new council.”

Anderson was terminated by council Wednesday at council’s regular meeting after a report put forward by the mayor.

According to the report, Anderson’s firing is without cause and will be paid a severance. Bachynski said he did not immediately have the details of how much that severance would be, but it would be made public when available.

According to the 2024 public accounts, Anderson is city’s highest paid employee, making more than $317,000 last year.

During her tenure as city manager, Anderson also served as a non-voting chair for the Regina Exhibition Association’s board of directors.

In accordance with the Cities Act, and as council’s sole employee, a majority move gives councillors the power to fire a City Manager without cause.

“I’m comfortable with the process taken,” said Ward 3 Coun. David Froh, who serves on the city’s HR committee. “I have the utmost confidence in city staff and administration.”

Anderson had been on leave since April 29. Since her absence, few details were provided by city administration as for the reason behind the leave nor how long it would be – only that she has been dealing with a described “personal matter.”

The motion passed with a vote of 10-1. Only Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak was against the motion.

“Since I’ve been elected in 2020, we’ve paid out more than $1 million to folks by firing them without cause and paying them out accordingly,” Zachidniak told reporters. “If we want to talk about being efficient with our money, that’s a clear way we could certainly find some savings, by no longer doing that.”

“There has been too many changes,” Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli told council. “I support this change. And hopefully this will be the last time so we can be stable again.”

Anderson was hired in November 2022 after previous City Manager Chris Holden was fired in February of that year by the previous iteration of council, led by former Mayor Sandra Masters.

Just three weeks after her hiring, she presented the 2023-24 city budget, which failed to include funding to solve homelessness. As a result, then councillors Dan LeBlanc and Andrew Stevens sued Anderson – a lawsuit which was thrown out by a judge.

Over her two and a half years as City Manager, the city has increased its budget priorities to address decades of infrastructure underfunding.

City Clerk Jim Nicol will continue to serve as interim city manager until a new replacement is found.

“Who is going to want to come work for our city if we’ve fired the past two city managers without cause,” Zachidniak said. “I am concerned about the impact that’s going to have on our recruitment for a new city manager.”

“I’m not going to speculate on what that impact is until we see it before the in the process we do,” Bachynski added.