The power struggle over the management of the Sony Centre has reached a breaking point with all of the civilian members of the board handing in their resignation.

In a letter sent Thursday afternoon, less than a week ahead of a council vote to remove them, the eight volunteer members said they were resigning immediately over concerns oversight of the theatre had become “politicized.”

The move followed a report from Auditor-General Jeffrey Griffiths last month that found “significant issues” with the management of $23 million in construction contracts for the downtown theatre’s renovation between 2006 and 2011 that saw costs rise to $40 million.

“Media coverage and developments at the city had the effect of unfairly shifting responsibility to us for certain transactions which occurred between 2006 and 2011,” chair Ron Forbes wrote in the letter. “After much consideration, we have concluded that it would not be possible to continue the board’s important agenda in this current environment.”

Forbes told the Star one of the key issues was the board being blocked from hiring a candidate immediately to fill the role of departing CEO Dan Brambilla, who leaves at the end of the month.

“We’ve been labouring to get the Sony Centre on track,” Forbes said, adding they were looking for a high profile candidate who could turn revenues around. “Our intention was that we should get a CEO ASAP . . . It cannot stay without a leader for nine months to a year.”

Forbes said the hiring got delayed at the city where some councillors didn’t approve of the process they were following.

At a meeting of the audit committee last week, councillors voted unanimously to replace the board with an interim six-person team of councillors and city staff. That move needs approval at council next week.

City Manager Joe Pennachetti, Chief Financial Officer Rob Rossini and Deputy City Manager Brenda Patterson were slated to fill the staff roles along with current board members Councillor David Shiner and Councillor Pam McConnell , along with Councillor Shelley Carroll who brought the motion.

Councillor Paula Fletcher , who recently gave up her seat on the board, said then she agreed the old board should not pick a new CEO so close to an election.

Neither Fletcher nor Carroll was available to comment Thursday.

Forbes said he believes with the turmoil between the board and councillors, they will now be hard pressed find a replacement for the theatre’s top job.

“No senior candidate would ever want to come,” he said.

Shiner said he believed members of council understood the civilian members were being unfairly targeted for decisions made before their term and it was unlikely council would have voted to remove them.

“I worked with them and understand how hard they’ve worked on behalf of the city on a board without remuneration,” Shiner said. “I understand fully them saying now there’s been way too much political interference by members of council that aren’t letting them effectively serve in their positions.”

Shiner said the issue of hiring a new CEO became a “quagmire” between the civilian board and councillors.

He credited the civilian members for trying to “clean up the mess” of the previous board. Shiner said he worries council will now try to assume control of the board during an election when they will have little time to dedicate to its functioning.

Current CEO Brambilla told the Star Thursday that the plan to turf civilian members would have been a bad move.

“I think it is very unfair and unwise for the city to remove a board that was doing its best for the future of the Sony Centre,” he said. “I fear that this kind of action will cast a pall on the city’s ability to recruit citizen board members in the future.”

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly said he was “surprised” by the “regrettable” news and that he had just been speaking to Shiner.

“I thought I was working on a solution that would have hopefully bridged both sides of this debate, that would have kept the present board members in place but added other board members to it, the ones that were already slated to be on the board,” Kelly said. “I guess that’s been precluded.”

Forbes said Kelly did not speak to him about those efforts.

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