WESTLOCK – Kay Spiess, hired last spring to serve as Westlock County’s ninth CAO in the past eight years, resigned effective March 7.
County reeve Christine Wiese informed councillors of Spiess’ departure at their March 8 meeting — councillors unanimously accepted her resignation in a motion interim CAO Pat Vincent said, “closes that particular chapter on the history of Westlock County.”
Spiess, who started as CAO in April 2021, went on an “unexpected” six-week leave following a four-hour-and-14-minute, councillors-only meeting Feb. 3 — a gathering that Spiess and community services coordinator Adrienne Finnegan attended but exited after only three minutes. At the conclusion of that meeting a motion made by Coun. Jared Stitsen and passed by council directed Wiese to get a legal opinion on in-camera item 9.1. At their Feb. 22 meeting, councillors went in-camera briefly to discuss a personnel matter and when they emerged voted 7-0 to direct Wiese and deputy reeve Ray Marquette to proceed pursuant to the legal advice they had received. Spiess had been slated to return to work March 18.
“Council wishes Kay the best in her future endeavours,” said Wiese. “We will obviously be actively recruiting to fill the position.”
Vincent cautioned council that there’s a signed non-disclosure agreement between the municipality and Spiess which “cannot and will not be released to the public.” The Westlock News reached out to Spiess for comment March 8, but she did not reply.
“I think the public has a right to know that there’s a non-disclosure agreement that’s attached to that,” said Vincent. “Council I believe has possession of that and you are to guard it closely and keep it confidential.”
In a follow-up interview, Wiese says Spiess will not receive a payout beyond what any employee who resigned would normally get under labour laws.
“There’s no severance. There are terms of acceptance of the resignation from her contract. That’s standard as per any employer … I can’t say exactly what the terms of her contract are,” said Wiese.
Spiess was the county’s ninth CAO in the past eight years, but with the hiring of Vincent, who also previously filled in with Westlock County in 2016, the number rises to 10 — technically the figure is 11 as Rosemary Offrey, who’s previously served as CAO for the Town of Rainbow Lake and manager of corporate services for the MD of Greenview, acted as interim CAO for the Feb. 8 council meeting only.
Vincent, who counts 46 years of municipal government experience and served as CAO of Parkland County from August 2007 until he officially retired Jan. 1, 2015, is being paid $159 per hour, plus expenses like mileage, meals and hotel accommodations while staying at the Westlock Inn during the work week.
Following the acceptance of Spiess’ resignation, councillors unanimously agreed to extend Vincent’s contract until April 30, noting the possibility it may last longer. Since Feb. 9, Vincent has been interim CAO, a position he previously held in the summer of 2016 between the tenures of CAOs Duane Coleman and Leo Ludwig.
Spiess’ tenure
Spiess officially replaced Ludwig who led the county from 2016 to 2020 — Ludwig’s final five months at the municipality were spent on paid leave and his resignation was officially announced in September that year. Until Spiess was hired, Rick McDonald served as interim CAO, the second time he had filled the position for the municipality.
Spiess, a Sturgeon County native, first started with Westlock County in the summer of 2020 as a consultant for a service efficiency review and stayed throughout the Budget 2021 process before applying for the CAO position.
The previous council conducted a six-month review of Spiess’ contract Oct. 12, 2021, six days before the municipal election, while a formal review of the CAO by the current council had been slated for March.
