Webster's fate being decided at City Hall.
TTC chief general manager Gary Webster, left, chats with Councillor John Parker immediately before a special TTC meeting called for later this afternoon.
Staff photo/DAVID NICKLE
TTC Chair Karen Stintz said that it will likely cost taxpayers $500,000 to fire the TTC's chief general manager Gary Webster and the commission would be doing so without cause.
But she said she would respect the decision of the commission at the special TTC meeting called for later this afternoon, and not seek to overturn it by pushing for a special council meeting, as she did earlier this month to change tracks on Mayor Rob Ford's transit plan.
"I think it's not appropriate to have another special council meeting to deal with this matter," said Stints. "This is an issue that has been delegated to the commission and as much as I don't like it and may not like the outcome, these have been properly delegated and my colleagues are well within their rights to call it."
The special meeting was called last week by five commissioners loyal to Mayor Rob Ford: Frank Di Giorgio, Norm Kelly, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Cesar Palacio and Vincent Crisanti. The meeting has been called to deal with a personnel matter - specifically, the firing of Webster.
Webster advised Toronto Council against continuing with a plan to bury all of the Eglinton LRT, and was critical of Mayor Rob Ford's plan to build a subway along Sheppard Avenue East rather than a light rail line.â?¨Council sided with Webster - and Stintz - and voted to support some surface light rail along Eglinton, and more light rail along Finch Avenue West. Council also voted to put the subway plan for Sheppard under a microscope with a new committee.
Stintz said in her view Webster had done nothing wrong and had been an effective leader at the TTC.
She questioned the timing of the move given that Webster is due to retire next year.
"His contract is up next year - there is a question if he is to be replaced, why now?" she said. "Especially at a time when we met our budget target, we implemented a number of customer service initiatives that are going to improve transit for riders across the city... At this time it does create a level of instability that I don't believe is helpful to what we're about to do."
Stintz made the comments two hours before the 2 p.m. special commission meeting. Commissioners voted to go behind closed doors immediately, and voted down a motion by commissioner Maria Augimeri to allow other city councillors to attend the in-camera portion of the meeting.