Peter Chirico has dropped his civil suit against City Councillor Mark King.
According to Court documents reviewed by BayToday.ca, the former Managing Director of Community Services has dismissed his libel case against King.
“This Court orders that the within action and be and the same is hereby dismissed without costs,” stated the document.
Chirico launched a $1.25 million dollar lawsuit against King in February of 2016, stating the Manager of Community Services libeled him in comments made to BayToday.ca after a council meeting on December 14th, 2015.
See story here: Chirico out as city finds new permanent community services manager
"We are complaining about your defamatory statements published in the online publication BayToday.ca on December 15, 2015 as follows: "He has taken over a vacant position that was filled by another individual, and you can read into it what you want, but basically Mr. Chirico doesn't work for the City of North Bay any longer," Mark King, chairman of Community Services Committee, said after the meeting.
"That's the end of the story, there's really nothing else to add to it,” he added.
See that full story here: https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/chirico-launches-lawsuit-against-king-for-libel-193006
As Director of Community Services, Chirico shouldered much of the blame for the Memorial Gardens cost overrun, which started at $12 million and ballooned to over $16 million.
In the late fall of 2015, it was revealed that Chirico was on long term sick leave when it was announced that John Severino would become the interim acting manager of community services.
In Chirico’s court papers it indicates he had resigned from the position in November of 2015 and a script was given to the mayor, council and city staff in order to protect the parties from any legal action.
According to Chirico’s lawyer, that script was never followed.
In early October Chirico attempted to return to work but his city security key had been disabled. City CAO Jerry Knox stated at the time that it was a Human Resources issue.
See that story here: https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/peter-chirico-locked-out-of-city-hall-67375
