ATHABASCA – Effective April 3, Pat Vincent will take over as interim CAO for Athabasca County from director of planning and development Christa Wilkinson, who had stepped into the position on a short-term basis following the March 7 termination of CAO Christopher Parker.
While thanking Wilkinson for her work, deputy reeve Ashtin Anderson said they expect it will take some time to find a permanent replacement and it wasn’t fair to Wilkinson, who has her own duties to perform.
“The acting CAO and director of planning and development are both full-time positions and to ask a staff member to fulfill both roles on a potentially longer-term basis is not reasonable when an experienced interim CAO is available,” said Anderson.
She also noted that while the search for a permanent CAO continues “we are pleased Mr. Vincent expressed interest in the interim CAO position.” Vincent has worked as a public servant for 49 years, starting in the Town of Elk Point in 1981, where he stayed until 1991. He also served as CAO for the towns of Slave Lake and Beaumont, before becoming the CAO of Parkland County in August 2007, where he worked until his retirement Jan 1, 2015.
“The expertise and experience he brings to Athabasca County will help guide us through the many projects and activities in the coming months while we pursue the recruitment process to secure a permanent CAO,” said Anderson.
Since his official retirement, Vincent has been operating a municipal consulting business and has served as an interim CAO for communities like the Town of Olds and the City of Chestermere. Most recently, Vincent was the interim CAO for the County of Minburn, from September 2022 until January 2023 and served in the same role for Westlock County from Feb. 10 to Aug. 3, 2022.
In a brief March 31 interview, Vincent said that he was “excited for the opportunity to serve as interim CAO for Athabasca County” with his first council meeting slated for April 11.
“I was once challenged by a comment of an elected official who decried that all CAOs were retreads and had been fired at one time or another,” wrote Vincent in his resume. “I am very proud of my profession, and the fact that I have never been fired, terminated, let go, or asked to leave any municipality with which I have been employed.”
How we got here
For the third time since the summer of 2021, Athabasca County is in the market for a permanent chief administrative officer after councillors voted 9-0 at a special meeting March 7 to terminate Parker less than half a year into a 55-month contract.
In a past interview, reeve Brian Hall wouldn’t go into specifics on the sudden dismissal and said in a release that council needed to “go a different direction” and that “a change in leadership was necessary.” Also during a March 8 interview, Hall didn’t provide any details on the severance package that Parker will receive as part of his contract.
Via a March 11 e-mail, Wilkinson confirmed that Parker’s contract had been slated to run from Sept. 19, 2022, to April 30, 2027, while his annual salary “will be reported in our financial statements as required” and that “severance will be paid in accordance to the contract between Mr. Parker and Athabasca County as outlined in the motion from council.”
CAO carousel
Following the contentious departure of CAO Ryan Maier in June 2021, the position was filled on interim basis by then-agriculture and community services manager Dawn Phillips until the hiring of Rod Risling in early 2022 — Phillips ultimately left the county in the late 2022 to become CAO of the Town of Smoky Lake.
Following Risling’s seven-week tenure, Frank Coutney, who has over 30 years of municipal government experience, including 28 years as the CAO for the County of Wetaskiwin, took over on an interim basis until Parker was installed as the permanent CAO.
Incidentally, Maier became Athabasca County CAO in August 2014 after spending two years in the same role with the Town of Athabasca and has served as the permanent CAO of Thorhild County since Jan. 1, 2022 — Maier was initially appointed as Thorhild’s interim CAO starting Aug. 5, 2021, with a fixed-term contract ending Dec. 31, 2021.
