Vancouver hires Delta's city manager, 8 days after its former manager's departure

Donny van Dyk, Delta and Pentiction's former city manager who also worked for Enbridge, will take over as Vancouver's city manager, replacing Paul Mochrie, who stepped down eight days ago.

The city made the announcement in a news release on Thursday morning.

"Donny brings a results-driven mindset and a strong mix of public and private sector experience that will help us deliver real, tangible outcomes for Vancouverites," said Mayor Ken Sim in the news release.

The city's statement says the Terrace-born van Dyk will take on "key priorities," namely delivering on the next four-year capital plan. Sim has already signalled he would like to have a zero per cent property tax increase.

Passing that budget would come around 10 months before the next municipal election in October 2026.

"I look forward to working with Mayor Sim, council, city leadership and the talented City of Vancouver staff team as we deliver on council's agenda for a vibrant and inclusive future for everyone who lives and works in this world-class city," said van Dyk in the release.

Van Dyk comes to Vancouver after a two-year stint in Delta as that city's top staffer. He came to Delta from Penticton, where he was also city manager.

Outside his decade in municipal governance, Vancouver said van Dyk held senior roles at Enbridge, "where his work spanned Indigenous relations, government affairs and finance."

He ran unsuccessfully for the B.C. Liberal Party (B.C. United)  in the 2009 general election for the riding of Skeena. Elections B.C.'s political contributions system shows Donald van Dyk contributing $6,645.17 to the party from 2006 to 2017.

'Not bringing politics,' says van Dyk in councillor chat

Van Dyk's hiring comes a week after the city announced its previous city manager, Mochrie — who had held the top staff job in Vancouver for four years and various other roles for another 10 — was stepping down.

Sim said at the time that the decision was a mutual agreement between himself and Mochrie, but other details of the departure were not made public.

Councillors outside of the city's ruling ABC party, which has a majority on council, said they weren't directly involved in discussions around Mochrie's departure or the hiring of van Dyk.

They were invited to a closed-door council meeting with less than 24 hours' notice, something where typically two weeks' notice would be given.

"By and large, it's very clear that this is the person that the mayor wants in this position and just took the steps with whatever was required to get that done," said former ABC councillor, now Independent, Rebecca Bligh, who could not attend the meeting.

"We've got to make sure that politics does not get in the way of progress for our city, and that's what I'm focused on."

Coun. Lucy Maloney, with OneCity, said she was also surprised at the quick turnaround between Mochrie's departure and van Dyk's arrival, considering hiring Mochrie was a months-long process involving all of council.

"This process doesn't give reasonable people confidence that this person is set up well to act in a non-partisan way as the most senior public servant in the city," she said.

Green Party Coun. Pete Fry said he's curious about how van Dyk will reconcile Vancouver's needs to manage a bigger budget, more significant urban problems such as homelessness and the overdose crisis compared to Delta.

"Recognizing that Delta is a very different city manager role from the City of Vancouver, significantly different," he said.

The night before van Dyk's hire was made public, the new manager called Fry and both Maloney and Bligh.

Fry said van Dyk assured him "he's first and foremost, a professional civil servant, and he's aware of the sort of potential for political dimension to this conversation. And is not — his own words — he's not bringing politics into this role."

Fry said he also spoke with people from within Indigenous communities and environmental groups who have worked with van Dyk in the past, and they commented to Fry that van Dyk was professional and "a good person to work with."

Vancouver said van Dyk will begin his tenure at the city on Sept. 8, but did not disclose other details of his employment.

In Delta, van Dyk earned $393,496 in remuneration with $7,793 for expenses. Paul Mochrie earned $387,110 last year with the City of Vancouver.