*** Correction: A previous version of this story reported Coun. Rawson had contacted Municipal Affairs and a representative joined the second closed session. The man was actually Municipal Team Leader Sean Ward, a partner with Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP. We apologize for the error. ***
ATHABASCA – Athabasca County will be searching for a new chief administrator after council accepted CAO Ryan Maier’s resignation during a contentious meeting last week that was spent mostly behind closed doors.
Councillors voted to immediately go in-camera at the start of the June 24 regular council meeting and spent a half-hour there before coming back to pass a motion to accept Maier’s resignation with a 5-3 vote. Coun. Dwayne Rawson, Coun. Dennis Willcott and Coun. Christi Bilsky were adamant in their opposition to the motion.
“Absolutely not,” said Rawson. “We should be keeping him.”
“No, what a mistake, I’ll say that,” said Willcott.
“Vehemently opposed,” said Bilsky.
Coun. Kevin Haines, Coun. Penny Stewart, Coun. Travais Johnson, Coun. Warren Griffin and reeve Larry Armfelt all voted in favour. Coun. Doris Splane was absent from the meeting.
Another motion was then put on the floor to immediately appoint Director of Agriculture and Community Services Dawn Phillips to the role of acting chief administrative officer, which prompted Bilsky to ask for a discussion before passing the motion, which Armfelt declined.
“We can’t exist without a CAO; we are not an identity without a CAO for the county, so therefore we have to have a CAO in order to begin to continue doing anything,” he said.
“Well, I would just like to know what credentials this lady has to be the CAO,” Bilsky responded. “I'd like to know some information so I know how to vote here.”
“What other options were there? Was anybody else from the county asked?” added Rawson.
“Or I guess who has chosen this lady as the potential replacement? continued Bilsky. “Do we get to vote on a wage or contract or anything like that or has that all been decided already as well?”
“I guess when this meeting is done, we can leave the five councillors running the council. Not us,” said Willcott.
Rawson continued to ask for a discussion, several times, saying he couldn’t make an informed decision without answers, but the vote took place after an exchange with Armfelt where the reeve cited both the Municipal Government Act and Robert’s Rules of Order, which guides the procedural practices of most governmental bodies in an effort for meetings to be conducted in a fair, orderly and smooth manner.
“If you're refusing to answer my questions, then obviously, I'm gonna have to say no because you will not answer my questions, and yes, I will be bringing this up with Municipal Affairs, because you're not answering questions,” said Rawson.
“It don't matter what we say, five new councillors run this council and administration and the whole bloody works. I hope the public is aware of that,” Willcott added.
“I still would like some questions answered, but I understand that's not going to happen,” said Bilsky. “I guess we can maybe ask Dawn how long she was aware of this arrangement, like I said, with the contract and dollars and all of that, how come nobody's telling us what's going on?”
The vote to appoint Phillips as acting CAO passed with an identical result to the first.
The sniping continued as councillors proceeded with the agenda before council took a short break. They returned at 11 a.m. and immediately went back into closed session after Municipal Team Leader Sean Ward, a partner with Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP had already joined the meeting via Zoom.
The meeting was opened for the public again at 12:30 after a short lunch break, but there was no further discussion aside from a few more quips from the councillors in opposition.
Personnel matters are considered confidential, so are discussed out of the public eye. As such, the circumstances of Maier’s sudden resignation - whether it was a mutually agreed-upon resignation, whether there was a pay-out from the municipality, and why at least three councillors were unaware of the coming motions, along with any other details - are not available, and may never be.
Maier has been at the helm of Athabasca County since August 2014 after spending two years with the Town of Athabasca. Previous to that, he was employed by the municipalities of Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Wainwright, Millet and was assistant CAO for the Town of Rimbey.
Now acting CAO Dawn Phillips has been with Athabasca County since May when she took the new position of director of agriculture and community services. She left her previous job as director of recreation with the Town of Taber in March, and incidentally worked under Cory Armfelt, who was terminated from the CAO position in that town in January, according to published reports and meeting minutes – he is also the son of reeve Armfelt.
Before that, Phillips worked for the City of Camrose as aquatic director for more than a decade before moving into the facilities director position, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also worked as pool manager in the Town of Grande Cache between 1988 and 2004.
Her latest credentials include director of emergency management certification from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency in 2020 when she also completed an advanced certificate in local authority administration at the University of Alberta. In 2017, she also completed a certificate in municipal management and leadership through U of A, and took management courses through Athabasca University between 2002-2008.
