Ed LeBlanc, Westlock County’s top bureaucrat for the past seven years, is out of a job.
Now before we get into the lingering questions, we must commend LeBlanc on his service.
His 29-year tenure as a county employee should be lauded, and his experience will most certainly be missed — especially considering county council has three rookie politicians.
In case you haven’t read our Page 1 story, here’s the Cole’s Note version: following an in-camera session at last Tuesday’s council meeting, a motion was made to repeal his appointment as CAO by mutual agreement. Neither county reeve Bud Massey nor LeBlanc will state how the two parties reached that agreement.
Fair enough.
We don’t think anyone really cares why this split happened — both sides say it was mutual and really that’s good enough for us. If he was fired, or simply walked off the job, well that’s a different story.
The only question we, and county ratepayers demand, is whether or not LeBlanc was paid a severance.
When questioned, Massey would not say that a severance was paid, nor would he say a severance was not paid. So, which is it?
When we first heard talk of LeBlanc leaving, Massey and LeBlanc were both cagey using phrases like, “As of today he’s still an employee of Westlock County …”
Again, fair enough. As of that day he was still the CAO and talks of departure were ongoing. We expect politicians to spin, that’s what they do.
But it’s particularly strange when Massey will not indicate whether the county’s top employee who made roughly $178,000 in his last full year of employment is getting a severance package.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again — taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. That is not too much to ask.
Our northern neighbours know how much it cost them to change their CAOs — LLB’s manager was fired without cause and received a severance of $215,000 earlier this year, while in Athabasca County, council fired its CAO April 8 and he was given a $105,727 severance.
So Westlock County council, how much did it cost?
