Kathleen Soltis is no longer the city manager after she reached a mutual agreement with council to end her employment contract after 34 years of service to the city.
The news was announced early Friday evening in a press release issued by the city.
“It was an honour and privilege to serve in the local government of my community and I’m particularly proud to have been part of a team with all of the city staff who go about their work each and every day,” said Soltis, in the release. “Their work is often invisible but what they do contributes so much to making Prince George such a great place to live.”
Soltis began her career with the city as a personnel officer in 1986. She continued to advance into more high-profile positions and took over from Beth James as city manager in March 2015, after three months as acting city manager. She was the director of corporate services for 17 1/2 years prior to James's departure and during that time stepped into the acting city manager role for seven months, from October 2012-April 2013. Soltis played a key role in overseeing the 2017 referendum which led to city voters approving construction of a new downtown poll and fire hall.
“On behalf of council, I’d like to express my appreciation to Kathleen for her dedication, years of service in many key roles, and commitment to Prince George. We wish her well in her future endeavours,” said Mayor Lyn Hall, in the release.
The city manager oversees the overall management and operations of the city and its nearly 700 employees and acts as a key advisor for the mayor and council for development and implementation of policies and strategies.
In 2018, during the municipal election, it was reported that Soltis's base salary was $259,930, an 8.2 per cent increase from 2017 when her base pay was $237,487.
Walter Babicz, the city’s general manager of administrative services, will assume the role as acting city manager, while Ian Wells, general manager of planning and development, will be the acting deputy city manager.
Look to The Citizen website on Saturday for more details about Soltis’s unexpected departure.
