City’s CAO dies after brief illness

A sense of loss permeated City Hall yesterday. City workers learned longtime city chief administrative officer Bert Meunier died Sunday of an undisclosed illness. He was 56.

His family has asked that memorial donations be made to cancer research at the Kingston Regional Cancer Centre. A “celebration of life” service is scheduled at the Scotland Funeral Home in Elgin from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Accolades abounded yesterday for an unflappable administrator who, in quiet fashion through two stints as Kingston’s senior civil servant, reshaped the inner workings of City Hall from the ground up. Hailed by some as a visionary and pragmatist, Meunier relentlessly pushed for change on behalf of the taxpayer to bring accountability, efficiency and strategic planning to a municipality that critics claimed was paralysed by dysfunction and myopia.

Intensely private and a man of few words, Meunier was remembered yesterday as a civic leader who gently inspired those around him to do their best for the city. Frequently yesterday Meunier’s peers said he never lorded over the 1,400 employees in his charge. The loss of such a high-profile public figure cast a pall over City Hall yesterday. Staff members, assembled outside the late CAO’s empty office, wiped tears from their eyes as Mayor Harvey Rosen confirmed Meunier’s death in a news conference. No members of the Meunier family attended the news conference, nor could they be reached last night.

Rosen told reporters it was “with great sadness” that he delivered the news that Meunier had succumbed to an illness that forced him from his job in November. It was only weeks ago that the city officially confirmed Meunier was ill. Many were shocked to see his life cut short. Meunier had, in recent years, purchased a motorcycle and was a regular fixture heading up and down country roads between his city home and the Elgin summer farmhouse where he died Sunday surrounded by his wife, Frankie, and son, Jamie. He played hockey, loved to run and was often seen walking his dog. Rosen said the city has lost a leader who guided the city through some challenging times. “Mr. Meunier was an outstanding, experienced, dedicated municipal administrator who served our community well over 10 years and during times of unprecedented change in our city,” Rosen said. "Mr. Meunier was highly respected by council, staff and citizens alike and he will be sorely missed.”

The municipality will offer its own special goodbye to Meunier, Rosen said. “City staff and council are currently working on an appropriate tribute to a member of our municipal family who we all admired and respected,” he said. “I would like to offer my sincerest condolences to Bert’s family during this most difficult period.” Rosen said city treasurer Denis Leger will serve as interim CAO.

Meunier’s loss wasn’t only felt in Kingston. Word of his passing reached into municipal offices across the country where senior managers lamented the death of a man who served this year as first vice-president of the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators. Brian Hamblin serves as president of the association and is the City of Regina’s director of corporate services. He said in an interview yesterday that Meunier was respected by 300 municipal managers across Canada for the forward-thinking changes he brought to Kingston. Meunier was to be named national president of the municipal administrators association this May at the organization’s annual conference in St. John’s, Nfld. “Bert was highly regarded in the municipal management field,” Hamblin said. “I would describe Bert as a consummate professional. Something I will miss about Bert is his quiet wisdom. He was definitely a strategic thinker and approached any issues or problems we were dealing with from a big-picture perspective. He was a man of a high degree of intellect. “On our CAMA board, Bert was assigned the project of working on our strategic plan for the next number of years,” he said. “We’ll miss him a lot.”

Former mayor Helen Cooper worked with Meunier during his first stint with the city, from 1990 to 1992 when he left for Kanata. Meunier returned in 1998. Cooper said she was shocked to see an active man claimed by illness at such an early age. “I’m profoundly sad that somebody so young and just a wonderful human being [has died]. He had complete integrity, a great sense of humour. It was quiet, so a lot of people may not have known it was there, but it was,” Cooper said. There’s no question Meunier leaves Kingston better off than when he arrived, she said. “Yes, he has a legacy, in that he was somebody who did want to change administrative practice at City Hall for all the right reasons and it was the fresh approach. There were some major stumbling blocks and he didn’t walk away from them at all, in fact quite the contrary. Bert was fearless in that regard,” Cooper said.

Former mayor Gary Bennett served with Meunier for one term in the late 1990s and said he liked Meunier the moment he met him. Meunier wasn’t quick to jump to conclusions, a trait that made him a strong CAO, he said. “I always admired and respected Bert’s judgment. If you wanted Bert to make a decision on the spot, he was very reluctant to do so, he wanted to make sure he clearly understood the issue from all sides, Bennett said. “Politicians are always quick at making decisions and Bert was never one who wanted to be involved in crisis management. He wanted to be sure that when he provided his advice, that council could rely on it, knowing it was well-thought out, that he was using his best judgment.” Bennett said Meunier wasn’t a typical city CAO given the fact that he shunned the limelight. “He was a bit of a contradiction. When one makes a decision to work in local government, particularly at the municipal level, it’s a very public office, a very public profile, everyone knows who the CAO of a city is ? and yet he was a very private person.” Bennett said Meunier brought an immense intellect to the job, which helped cut through the maze of legislation and regulation. “Particularly because of the fact we were one of those municipalities going through a fairly significant transitional process [amalgamation]. There aren’t any textbooks on the shelf on how to do it. In many ways Bert was helping to author the process of how one does that.” Bennett said Meunier was no slouch and could often be found burning the midnight oil in his second-floor office. “I left City Hall many nights at 10 p.m. and he was still there working,” he said.

Former mayor Isabel Turner said she was deeply saddened for Meunier and family. Turner served with Meunier for one term until she was defeated by Rosen in 2003. “I found him to be a very bright and intelligent man but a very humble man at the same time,” Turner said. “I have nothing but the highest praise for him.” Turner said Kingston should be thankful for Meunier’s ability to see that the city needed a direction in which to invest its energies. Focus Kingston, a community strategic plan, wouldn’t have begun without Meunier, she said. When the document was implemented, Turner said, “you could see that starting to take life within the planning he was making with staff.” Meunier was also a financial wizard who ensured there was ample risk management embedded in all city efforts, she said. What struck Turner most about Meunier, however, was his honesty. “He was always very straight with council. That is the real legacy for him. He just held this city in such high esteem in his own personal way. His intelligence, his experience. He put all of that into motion within the city,” Turner said.

Councillor Kevin George said the city was always in good hands with Meunier. “He was very forthcoming. There was no second-guessing what it was that he was trying to promote. It was always something better for the city,” George said. There’s no question Meunier’s tenure in Kingston helped push the city toward a better tomorrow, he said. “Bert was the one who made it very clear to us that we needed to deal with our budget long-term and to deal with capital projects that were forgotten about. There were the priority-setting sessions. There is no doubt in my mind that he was the one who drove this,” George said. “He has left a legacy and because of his initiatives, we’re a city that now realizes we can be proud of what we’re doing.”

Councillor Rick Downes said Kingston would have been in dire straits during amalgamation in 1998 if Meunier hadn’t agreed to return. “Certainly, it took political will to bring the three municipalities together, but it was Bert Meunier who made it work, without question,” he said. Downes said that Meunier’s constant quest for efficiency and accountability also helped form the annual report card issued by municipalities across Ontario. Meunier served on the provincial committee that saw municipalities report on the efficiencies of all city services from public transit to recreation. The city will have a difficult road ahead finding a new CAO of Meunier’s calibre, Downes said. “I’ve worked with people who hold similar positions to Bert’s and I think as a top administrator, he was among the very best,” he said. “What Bert offered more than anyone else was a calm presence. He always commanded the respect of everyone because he was unflappable. We dealt with a lot of difficult issues over the six years and I never ever saw him upset about something. He took a lot.”

Councillor Steve Garrison extolled Meunier as someone who could find reason to end emotional and time-consuming arguments on council. “Mr. Meunier was the calm in the storm. He kept his cool for the most part. He worked in a very political environment and had the skills and talent to run a major corporation,” Garrison said. “Sometimes things were very heated and emotional. Throughout it all, whether he was being lauded or criticized, he always handled things with a high level of dignity.” Although Garrison and Meunier didn’t always agree, he said Meunier was a man who knew how to lead. “He provided a stabilizing presence for his staff, I think,” Garrison said.

Councillor Floyd Patterson said Meunier’s passing is a dark date in Kingston’s history, he said. “I respected Bert’s municipal training and his skills and his very competent intellect,” Patterson said. Regardless of the complexity of an issue, Patterson said, Meunier was a master of boiling down issues and making them comprehensible. “He had a wonderful ability to translate things into plain language,” Patterson said. He lauded Meunier’s search for savings in the fall budget that resulted in managers cutting $1.7 million before the budget was even presented to council for approval in November. Patterson said Meunier’s vision should also be praised for giving the city a long-term budget strategy to keep spiralling costs under control and avoid spiking property tax hikes. “We have responsibility to follow up on that now, to screen that to see how effective it will be carried out,” he said. “Bert started that and understood what the taxpayers were concerned about.”

Councillor Beth Pater said the news of Meunier’s death is devastating for the city. “I’ll miss Bert very much having worked with him for the last four years on implementing the community strategic plan,” she said. “He was a wise and very professional administrator. It is a great loss to our city,” Pater said.

City commissioner of community services Lance Thurston said Kingston has lost a visionary. “The legacy Bert has left for us is this financial model that is going to lead the city to sustainability over time,” he said. Thurston said Meunier’s presence at City Hall will be felt for a very long time. “As a city manager, to be able to leave that kind of legacy behind you is rather unique,” he said.

Cynthia Beach, commissioner of planning and development, said there is no doubt in her mind that Meunier’s experience helped guide the city to better times both inside and outside City Hall. “Since Bert came to the city six years ago, there has been an absolute turn-around. It’s been Bert who was the driving force behind that. It was his thoughtfulness and pragmatism getting to the end goal. His signature is all over that and the city will benefit,” she said.

Interim CAO Leger said Meunier earned the respect of staff. “Certainly, he was a very forward thinker, nothing short-term. He never ceased to amaze us. He was a mentor, a leader and well-respected colleague of ours.” Leger said Meunier was always available to help despite an extremely heavy workload and timetable. “He always had time for everyone in this corporation whether you were a front-line worker or a colleague on the executive team. Sometimes it wasn’t a lot of time but he always remembered your name. That was the kind of person Bert was,” Leger said. Leger predicted that Meunier’s funeral service on Saturday will be teeming with people. “Bert was very modest and he may have thought not many people will show up for his tribute. I’ll tell you, there will be an awful lot of people because people looked at him as a modest and genuine person,” said Leger.

Operations commissioner Mark Segsworth said Meunier’s biggest wish would be for the city to complete his work. “Bert would not expect us to miss too many beats over this one. We have to keep going. He was absolutely a man of integrity,” Segsworth said. He said it was a shame that Meunier wouldn’t be at City Hall to witness the outcome of the many positive changes that were just begun in recent years. “His legacy will materialize more as we move forward,” he said.

Former city councillor Don Rogers served for both of Meunier’s stints in Kingston. He said part of Meunier’s success wasn’t only about his brains and vision. Meunier also had style, Rogers said. “Bert had a certain panache to him. I remember when he arrived at the city of Kingston, he would turn up wearing a flowing Australian drover coat and a very elegant wide-brimmed hat,” Rogers said. “In later years, you’d see him in his leather jacket getting onto his motorcycle, I don’t know whether there were studs on it.” Meunier will be remembered for his casual coolness. “He cut quite a figure and I think it’s significant when you can leave a mark, not just for the work you do, but for your style,” Rogers said.

Former city councillor and mayoralty candidate John Clements said he’ll remember Meunier as a good person. “He was first and foremost a gentleman in the classical sense, he was person of character,” said Clements. “I was constantly in awe, especially sometimes [when] he took some really hard hits from the politicians and he didn’t retaliate in anything but a courteous manner. “I think as a society he represents what we really appreciate in terms of human beings,” Clements said.