'Unsatisfactory competence': City Hall denies wrongdoing in wrongful dismissal suit

The City of Windsor is swinging back at a former senior administrator who has taken legal action claiming wrongful dismissal and corruption at city hall, calling for the suit to be tossed.

On Tuesday, the city filed its statement of defence in which it denies all allegations and claims made by Chris Nepszy, the now former Commissioner of Infrastructure Services for the City of Windsor.

The city’s defence claims Nepszy “repeatedly failed to meet the expectations associated with a senior level leadership position” and displayed “unsatisfactory competence” in core duties.

The statement also points to “significant and mounting performance concerns” shared among senior staff and “virtually all” councillors which ultimately led to his firing on November 15, 2023 by Mayor Drew Dilkens using Strong Mayor powers.

STATEMENT OF CLAIM

Nepszy’s case was filed in provincial court in Toronto on March 22 seeking $1.55 million in damages.

Speaking to CTV News on April 9, Nepszy’s lawyer, Howard Levitt, said efforts were made to come to a financial resolution with the city following Nepszy’s firing, but the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement.

“They made a wrongfully low offer and haven’t moved very much from that,” said Levitt.

The statement of claim alleges Nepszy was “induced” from his role at the Town of Essex and given assurances he would be “groomed” to be the next Chief Administration Officer (CAO) of the city.

The statement also claimed a “top-down culture of corruption” at city hall.

The claim further alleged Nepszy was coerced into “misusing public funds by the city’s leadership for both personal and political gain” while working for the City of Windsor and alleged Nepszy was told to “ensure that the mayor remained happy” by the then interim CAO, Onorio Colucci.

STATEMENT OF DEFENCE

The city’s statement of defence refutes all allegations made in the claim and stresses at no time was Nepszy asked to engage in illegal or improper conduct. It also contends Nepszy never brought forward any complaints or concern regarding alleged illegal or improper conduct.

The city also “categorically denies” it heavily recruited Nepszy for the position and contends he was one of many individuals who applied for the vacant position. The city reports its contracted recruitment firm, Boyden Canada, identified Nepszy as a potentially qualified candidate for the position.

The city claims Boyden only contacted identified candidates to notify of the posted position and to determine interest.

The city says Nepszy was never “pressured” into applying and furthermore specifically denies the claim Nepszy was being “groomed” as a future CAO of the corporation.

On the question of “top-down corruption” at city hall, the city calls the claim baseless and without merit.

MONTHLY MEETINGS

The city’s filed statement of defence claims Nepszy’s work habits were “demonstrating a pattern of untimely and/or non-responsiveness” to staff and councillors, which prompted monthly meetings between Colucci and Nepszy.

The city claims those meetings ran from June 22, 2022 to May 5, 2023.

The city states Colucci returned as interim CAO following the departure of Jason Reynar, who was terminated from the position, and subsequently met with Nepszy around April 8, 2022 to “discuss the concerns he had already been apprised.”

It was then the city claims Colucci “offered guidance” to Nepszy concerning the importance of keeping the mayor and council informed of the ongoing matters under the purview of the Commissioner of Infrastructure Services.

The city denies Colucci indicated Nepszy was “too close” with the outgoing CAO and denies Colucci advised Nepszy to “keep the mayor happy at all costs and you won’t be a target.”

The statement of defence indicates Colucci arranged those monthly meetings to take “corrective action” to improve Nepszy’s performance and denies the claim that Nepszy’s multi-million dollar portfolio of work was ignored.

The city also claims it became clear to senior staff Nepszy “lacked the skillset to make the transition to a larger, more complex organization” through his more than two years in the job.

PARKING TICKETS

Parking ticket allegations were also addressed in the city’s defence.

The city denies any wrongdoing concerning parking tickets and denies the claim councillors requested “favours” to waive parking tickets.

Councillors Fred Francis and Angelo Marignani were specifically named in the statement of claim.

The city both denies that Nepszy was ever asked to waive parking tickets for construction vehicles involved in the renovations to their homes and that Nepszy ever made any alleged refusals regarding parking ticket waivers.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.