Friday, January 16, 2009

Deputy manager in charge of 2010 Vancouver Olympic Village resigns

The deputy city manager overseeing construction of the Olympic Athletes Village for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games has resigned.

http://doubledoublethoughts.blogspot.com - Jody Andrew was the Vancouver deputy city manager in charge of the Olympic Athletes Village before he resigned Thursday.Jody Andrew's resignation is effective immediately, and there is no word on who will replace him, a source at Vancouver city hall told CBC News on Thursday night.

City manager Penny Ballem sent a note Thursday night to city councillors informing them of the news, media reports said.

Andrew's resignation comes as the athletes village faces major financial woes. Cost overruns have pushed the project's price to $875 million.

Fortress Investment Group, which was to lend the $750 million budgeted for the development, stopped advancing cash to builder Millennium Development Corp. in September, and the city has since been covering construction costs with a $100-million bailout loan approved during an in-camera council meeting on Oct. 14.


http://doubledoublethoughts.blogspot.com - Vancouver 2010 Olympics logo

Negotiations with Fortress to reopen the loan are ongoing, but the city will have to find the money to complete the village by this fall if the negotiations fall through.

Andrew is the third senior city official to depart city hall since Gregor Robertson became the new mayor in November's civic elections.

In December, Robertson hired Ballem, a former deputy minister of health for B.C.'s Liberal government, as city manager, replacing Judy Rogers, who had held the job since 1999.

Estelle Lo resigned as the city's chief financial officer days after the municipal elections. She reportedly left because of concerns about the controversial $100-million bailout.

The B.C. legislature will reconvene for a special sitting at noon Saturday to deal with the issue of financing the completion of the athletes village.

Robertson has asked the provincial government to amend the city's charter, giving it authority to borrow the $458 million required to finish the project after Fortress stopped funding it.

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