Council orders CAO's immediate resignation

Acting Halifax Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Anstey has announced his resignation effective immediately.

It was announced following a meeting of Halifax councillors behind closed doors Thursday afternoon.

"It became clear to me that it was time to leave in the interests of the organization and in the respect of the trust our municipality holds with the public," said Anstey in a release. "While this is not the way I had imagined the close of a career spanning more than three decades, I respect and I accept that Council sees it is my time to go."

This happened after Anstey announced his retirement Wednesday in the midst of a controversy over an unauthorized advance of money to a concert promoter.

Prior to Anstey, Dan English held the role of chief administrative officer—he retired July 8, 2010 after five years on the job.

The Black Eyed Peas concert took place July 24, 2010.

Other loans

CBC has learned provincial taxpayers are also on the hook for a $300,000 loan to promoter Harold MacKay for another concert back in 2009.

The promoter of the Paul McCartney concert received a cash advance at the request of HRM that was not repaid.

An official with Trade Centre Ltd. confirms that HRM also requested — and received — cash advances worth $2.4 million for the KISS concert and $950,000 for the Keith Urban concert in 2008.

Both of these advances were paid back by Mackay.

The Trade Centre said this is not their standard business practice but one that began after the city and mayor got involved in contract negotiations for concerts on the Common.

Some councillors told reporters that Mayor Peter Kelly's story about his involvement in the advance keeps changing and doesn't make sense to them.

Kelly acknowledged Wednesday that he signed the contracts that authorized the payments without council's knowledge or consent.

He said he believed everything was legitimate because the municipality's legal department had approved it.

Kelly then said Thursday that legal services didn't know about the advances, and insisted again he did nothing wrong.

"I rely on the contract approval process by our legal services. These contracts do not approve payment from HRM or an HRM agency. HRM Legal Services was unaware of any advances to the promoter, by anyone connected to HRM," said Kelly in the same news release.

Premier Darrell Dexter said earlier on Thursday that Kelly called him personally in a last-ditch effort to convince the province to fund last summer's Black Eyed Peas concert and a two-day country music concert.

That conversation took place the day before Anstey advanced the concert promoter Harold MacKay $400,000 in a payment that was not authorized by council.

When the Power Promotional Events collapsed last fall, the city was still owed $359,550 from the advance.

The concert was a financial flop and the city is out almost all of its money.

Supplier owed money

Rob Rock, the owner of Rock Rentals—a company that supplied tents and tables to the Black Eyed Peas and country music concerts promoted by Harold MacKay—was angry to learn about the payment.

Rock said Thursday that MacKay owes him money and he's furious to learn MacKay received taxpayers' money from the municipality.

"I'm angry about it and I'm upset. I took quite a good hit. Seventeen thousand dollars is a lot for a small business to lose," said Rock.

"To know he got an extra $400,000 from the city, I would like to know how he got the $400,000 from them, if he said he would pay the local suppliers, what line did he give them? I want to know where it went and if Harold just took it and put it somewhere.  I want to know what he used it on, because he didn't pay us—the suppliers."

Dexter said he didn't know the concert was in trouble, only that the province didn't have money to spend on the event.

Dexter said the recent revelations won't prevent the province from partnering with the city on other projects, as long as those initiatives make financial sense.

The city's charter specifically forbids council from giving financial assistance to any private company, including concert promoters.

Lower-than-expected ticket sales are blamed for the city stepping in and for the collapse of MacKay's company, Power Promotional Events.