Lawyer: Fremantle “an excellent administrator”

The City of Iqaluit’s ex-boss, Ian Fremantle, is “an excellent administrator” who showed “unwavering loyalty to the interests of the municipality,” says the city’s lawyer, Katherine Peterson, in a recent letter obtained by Nunatsiaq News, dated March 27.

“He shows sound judgment as to when legal advice is required, and he follows advice once provided. He is able to clearly separate relevant from irrelevant circumstances, shows excellent analytical skills and very strong administrative strengths. I have worked with a number of staff with the City of Iqaluit and I know that Mr. Fremantle was highly regarded by them,” Peterson said in her letter.

But documents obtained by Nunatsiaq News suggest that city council did not share that opinion.

Fremantle departed from his job at the city last month, after he and Iqaluit City Council could not agree on the terms of a new employment contract to replace one that expired March 16.

Their last offer to Fremantle, approved at their March 14 council meeting after an in camera session, would have imposed a new condition that employers normally use only for junior employees who are on probation – a performance review every three months.

For Fremantle, who wanted a two-year contract extension, this made council’s offer even worse than a one-year contract extension that Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik and Deputy Mayor Glen Williams offered him a week before, on March 9.

In a letter sent March 20, Fremantle said the three-month review requirement “is an insult to both my integrity and my professional ability.”

He went on to say that in his three years of work at the city, council never said in writing that they were dissatisfied with his performance.

“Now this council wants reviews done every three months, although they have not sat down to evaluate me once in the past two years,” his March 20 letter says.

But that didn’t stop some councillors from “verbally abusing” him and other staff members, Fremantle said.

“Granted, they have never provided positive feedback in writing on my performance either, although there have been occasions when individual members of council have treated myself and other senior staff members to verbal abuse in public because they felt as an elected official that this inappropriate behaviour was permissible,”

In conclusion, Fremantle said city council’s foot-dragging over the eight months it took them to make a contract offer “clearly indicates a lack of support for the chief administrative officer.”

Although Fremantle’s contract expired March 16, council gave him permission to represent the city at a March 17 meeting on a new gravel source, and a March 20 meeting on the city’s gas tax revenue agreement with the GN.