Anonymous email from Surrey City Hall staff accuses new council of causing fear and low morale

An unsigned email sent November 10 to all nine members of the new Surrey City Council claims that staff at City Hall are afraid of retaliation, that morale has collapsed since the new administration took office, and that the council's first week was "absolutely disgraceful." Three councillors responded publicly. Mayor Doug McCallum was unavailable for comment.

The email was reported on November 12 by the Surrey Now-Leader, Peace Arch News and North Delta Reporter.

What the email said

The message was signed only as "Engineering/Planning/Corporate Services/Legal Staff." No individual put their name to it. The Surrey Now-Leader, which broke the story, described it as ostensibly from city staff, without being able to confirm who sent it.

The email stated: "Your first week as the leaders of this organization has been absolutely disgraceful."

The authors said staff feared retaliation: "If we are smiling at you it's because we're afraid of what can happen to us." The email called one of the council's decisions "execution before trial" and said the action was "barbaric, inhumane and a poor reflection of our City."

The email closed with a warning: "City Hall is watching you and believe us when we say this, your missteps will be noted." It described the City's staff as "5,000 strong."

What council did in week one

The email arrived the day after council's first regular meeting on November 9. At that meeting, council adopted all 16 of McCallum's election commitments as official city priorities and directed staff to begin immediate work on each one. The City of Surrey published a press release on November 10 confirming the decisions.

The 16 priorities include a four-year property tax freeze, a police helicopter and drones within 90 days, a SkyTrain extension to Newton, a new hospital in Newton, and a forensic audit of land deals from the past four years. That last item refers to decisions made under the previous council, which had different leadership.

Mayor McCallum said in the City's press release: "The people of Surrey did not elect this Council to study things. They elected us to get things done, and last night we started."

Harry Bains, the only member of Surrey Connect elected in October, voted against five of the 16 priorities: the four-year tax freeze, the police helicopter and drones, special zoning for Crescent Beach and Ocean Park, the purchase of Rosemary Heights Retreat Centre lands as park, and the reintegration of the Surrey City Development Corporation into City operations. The Safe Surrey Coalition holds the other eight council seats. Every other vote was unanimous.

You can follow each priority as staff reports come back to council at the promise tracker.

How councillors responded to the email

Doug Elford, a Safe Surrey Coalition councillor, dismissed the unsigned message. He told the Surrey Now-Leader: "If nobody puts a name to it I don't really take it seriously." He compared it to anonymous social media posts. Elford said he had personally observed improved morale at city hall, without describing what he had seen.

Bains took a different position. He called it "a very angry letter" and said council needed to discuss the behaviours the email described. He said he could not independently verify the claims, noting the matter was one for the HR process. He did not say whether he would bring the subject to a council meeting.

The City of Surrey had not issued a statement about the email by the time the reports were published.

What is not known

The authorship of the email is not confirmed. The Surrey Now-Leader said the message was "ostensibly" from staff in engineering, planning, corporate services and legal, based on the signoff alone. No city employee has publicly confirmed writing or signing it. The email's authors described themselves as "5,000 strong" but did not explain how they arrived at that figure. The email does not name the specific action it calls "execution before trial," and none of the reports identified what that refers to.

Whether council will address the email formally is also not known. No item on staff morale or the email had been added to the council agenda by November 12. The Safe Surrey Coalition holds eight of the nine seats, so McCallum's majority can set the agenda without the opposition.

What comes next

Council's next regular meeting date had not been published by November 12. The 2027 council meeting schedule was adopted at the November 9 meeting. Surrey residents can attend council meetings in person at City Hall or watch online when the City streams them.

Each of the 16 priorities will return to council as staff reports with costs, timelines and implementation plans. No dates for those reports were given at the November 9 meeting.

Residents who want to follow the new council's decisions can track each of McCallum's promises at the promise tracker.