WESTLOCK – While a handful of prospective CAOs for Westlock County were interviewed this week, one former county CAO has landed on her feet in Beaver County, while another has been handed his pink slip in Prince Edward Island.
Reeve Christine Wiese said councillors are “optimistic” following the first three CAO interviews held May 10 with two more candidates slated to be quizzed May 17.
Reps from Leaders International, the firm tasked with finding a new CAO for the municipality, and county councillors went behind closed doors at the municipality’s April 12 meeting to discuss the current applicants and the process going forward — since former CAO Kay Spiess resigned after less than a year on the job, the firm is not be charging its standard recruitment fee which interim CAO Pat Vincent says would have been upwards of $30,000.
Leaders received 19 applicants and provided a shortlist of four, while councillors in turn asked them to investigate two who didn’t make the shortlist and provide more info.
“It’s been nice working with Leaders, they have good packages that are easy to go through. And a lot of us have been digging deeper too doing background searches as well,” said Wiese May 12.
At their April 26 meeting, councillors extended the contract of Vincent until the end June, or until a new CAO is hired — Vincent is being paid $159 per hour, plus expenses like mileage, meals, and hotel accommodations. Wiese reiterated that they won’t rush the new hire and Vincent has told them he’ll stay as long as he’s needed.
“It’s a little bittersweet because Pat has done so much for this council. It’s exciting that we’re moving forward, but he’s helped us so much,” said Wiese. “We’ve talked about it as a council that if this group (of candidates) doesn’t work out and hit all of our marks, it isn’t something we’re going to rush on. We want to do what’s best for the county.”
In addition to at least eight interim CAOs like Rick McDonald and Vincent, who served in the same role in the summer of 2016, plus assorted county senior admin, Westlock County’s seven permanent CAOs since the turn of the century in order are: Wyatt Glebe, Jim Squire, Edward LeBlanc, Peter Kelly, Duane Coleman, Leo Ludwig and Spiess.
Spiess gets new gig
Spiess, who served as Westlock County CAO from April 1, 2021, until she resigned March 7 following an “unexpected” six-week leave, is the new head of Beaver County.
Her April 19 hiring is noted in a release from Beaver County reeve Kevin Smook, which says the appointment follows the departure of the former CAO in October 2021. McDonald had been serving as interim CAO for Beaver County and filled a similar role in Westlock for the majority of 2020 before Spiess was hired.
“Council is excited to have Kay join the Beaver County team and is confident that she will provide professional, enthusiastic leadership as we move our operations and administration forward effectively and efficiently,” reads Smook’s release in part.
Spiess, a Sturgeon County native, worked for Westlock County in 2020 as a consultant for a service efficiency review, and stayed through the Budget 2021 process before applying for the CAO job.
Her leave started after a four-hour-and-14-minute, councillors-only meeting Feb. 3 — she had been slated to return to work March 18, while at a March 8 council meeting Wiese announced that she would not return.
Pink slip in PEI
Kelly, who left the municipality in 2016 under a cloud of failed land dealings and other irregularities, has been fired without cause as CAO of the City of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Facing accusations he fired senior staff after they brought up concerns about the city’s administration and financial irregularities, Kelly was terminated following an 8-3 vote at a special council meeting May 11. He had been CAO of Charlottetown since 2016.
An April 28 CBC story headlined “Another Charlottetown deputy CAO alleges Peter Kelly fired her after she raised concerns at city hall” followed up on an April 24 CBC investigative piece headlined “Ex-deputy told Charlottetown council CAO Peter Kelly fired him for raising financial concerns” which details the 2019 firing of Scott Messervey who said he believed his termination "was retaliation for highlighting the significant number of problems at City Hall and Mr. Kelly's incidents where he exceeded his authority."
Kelly was hired to be Westlock County CAO in September 2014 despite having no previous CAO experience at the time but had been mayor of Halifax Regional Municipality from 2000 to 2012 where he was the centre of a 2012 concert scandal.
His tenure in Westlock, which ended in March 2016, was well-documented in the 2017 municipal inspection report, with the authors writing that he took actions without council resolution, as he did when negotiating the Horizon North industrial land lease and authorized site improvements.
On June 14, 2016, county council discovered that the county was on the hook for over $202,000 in unrecoverable funds from a deal to prepare an eight-acre industrial park lot for Horizon North. An investigation determined that Kelly had green-lighted more than $375,863 in prep-work on the lot without council approval. Section 248(2) of the Municipal Government Act requires approval from council for non-budgeted expenditures $10,000 or more.
The total costs at the site were $465,000 — in 2016, the market value of the property was assessed at $263,000 and council had to write-off the difference.
In July 2016, the Westlock News obtained a confidential legal opinion from Reynolds, Mirth, Richards and Farmer Barristers and Solicitors that outlined a dozen breaches of Kelly’s duties as CAO of Westlock County, including violations of the MGA during the Horizon North deal.
Breaches included selling lots below market value, spending unbudgeted funds, withholding information from county council, failing to maintain proper paperwork, and continuing to deal with Horizon North after completing his tenure as CAO.
The letter argued that Kelly was liable for nearly $194,000 in damages to the county and also stated that the likelihood of successfully prosecuting him was less than 50 per cent and was not advised by the lawyers, who noted the county would likely spend more money than it would recover.
For his part Kelly called the inspection report “lacking, disappointing and incomplete at best, often appearing as inaccurate and biased.” He said he found it somewhat appalling and disconcerting that investigators, administration, and county staff couldn’t find a large amount of information and documents.
