Farewell party for second departing Penticton city manager a more frugal affair

By Steve Arstad INFO-TEL Multimedia July 11, 2015 - 11:30 AM
PENTICTON - Going away parties for city staffers have been scaled back following a large bill submitted earlier this year. City of Penticton Communications Officer Simone Blais says the farewell party for exiting Interim City Manager Chuck Loewen cost the city $235 last month. “That was the total spent in food, for veggies, meat and cheese trays with crackers and snacks. The SS Sicamous hosted the event location for free, and organized a cash bar that was a fundraiser for the society,” Blais says in an email. Loewen served as interim city manager for four months following former Chief Administrative Officer Annette Antoniak’s departure in February of this year. The bill for Loewen’s goodbye was much less than that for the departing Antoniak, whose farewell party on Feb.12 at the Vault Restaurant in the South Okanagan Events Centre cost taxpayers $1,400. Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit expressed surprise at the cost of the event when the bill was submitted, saying he would "make sure it didn’t happen again.”