Last month, Ontario's privacy commissioner ordered the City of North Bay to hand over details of the contract it drew up for retired Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Knox after concerned resident Kevin Ferris filed a Freedom of Information request.

The request for the documents came after Ferris noticed the former CAO was still on the city’s Sunshine List receiving $200,000 a year as a ‘special advisor.’

Now the agreement has been made available and Ferris has the documents he's been asking for.

"Received the copy of the confidential employment contract with Mr. Knox, as well as some emails and some draft copies of that agreement." said Ferris.

The documents show that in the fall of 2015, the mayor and Knox held numerous discussions concerning a transition plan for his replacement.

However, North Bay Mayor Al McDonald has previously said he was not involved in the "hiring or firing" of a corporate advisor position.

At the time of the broadcast, the mayor was not available for comment.

"He can't have it both ways. That's up to him to man up and state his role in this affair." said Ferris.

When Ferris began looking into the matter as a concerned citizen, he wanted a few questions answered about city council's involvement.

"City council's role in approving this agreement, I would like to know how that direction was obtained. Was there a vote? Or was there some other method where they gave staff the green light to do this?" said Ferris.

The documents provided by the city say Jerry Knox started the "corporate advisor" position in June of 2016.

The job description states that:

"From time to time, Knox may provide consulting and advisory services to the CAO, or the city's then acting CAO."

Both Mayor McDonald and the exiting CAO Keith Robicheau have previously refused to comment on the matter, citing privacy and personnel issues.

"It’s being reviewed by our legal services and we're not part of that process as elected members.” said McDonald back on November 29th.

"I think the whole culture down there needs to change. All the rhetoric during the election is just lip service. Nothing has changed. We deserve some transparency." said Ferris.

He says his talks with the privacy commissioner will continue and that he's hoping to receive more papers in the future.