Edward LeBlanc is no longer Westlock County’s chief administrative officer.
LeBlanc was relieved of his duties at the April 22 Westlock County council meeting when councillors passed a motion to repeal his appointment by mutual agreement. The motion came after an in-camera discussion.
In addition to relieving LeBlanc of his duties, council appointed Rick McDonald as interim county manager; McDonald will assist the county in hiring a new manager.
Massey would not comment on whether LeBlanc was given severance.
Neither county reeve Bud Massey nor LeBlanc would state how the two parties reached their mutual agreement that would see the parties go their separate ways.
“All that we’re at liberty to release at this time is that it’s a mutually agreed parting of the ways,” Massey said.
LeBlanc echoed Massey’s words.
“The press release indicated it was a mutual understanding or mutual agreement and it was very much a mutual agreement,” he said. “For both parties it was best that we go our separate ways and we move forward.”
Rumours of LeBlanc’s pending departure had been circulating for nearly two weeks, but on April 11 both he and Massey said he was still a county employee.
In fact, Massey said on April 11 that he saw no reason to believe LeBlanc would be leaving his post.
“Today, to the best of my knowledge, Ed LeBlanc is our chief administrative officer; if he’s leaving, he has not told me when and how he’s leaving,” he said.
Speaking on April 25, Massey said discussions about LeBlanc’s departure had been ongoing for “a few weeks” leading up to April 22.
“There had to be some timeframe to make sure that that’s what both parties were willing to live with,” he explained.
When questioned why he had said on April 11 that there was no indication LeBlanc would be leaving his job, Massey said it was because discussions were ongoing and he didn’t want to release information prematurely.
“What if the decision had been not to part ways?” he asked. “Until there was a firm decision either to part ways or not part ways, it would have been inappropriate for me to say the discussions were even going on.
“At that point in time nothing had happened. He was still our CAO. Had there been some discussion? Yes, but he was still our CAO.”
He added to have done so without a resolution could have created “turmoil” in the county’s employment ranks.
LeBlanc said he is leaving the county with his head up.
“In the 29 years I was with Westlock County, it was very rewarding and it was a privilege to work for the county for those 29 years,” he said.
“The county has very good and dedicated staff and it was very much an honour to work with those people.”
Westlock County is not the only municipality in the area that is undergoing a change in administration.
In February, Lac La Biche County CAO Roy Brideau was fired without cause, with the only reason cited is that “a change in leadership [was] required.” Brideau received a severance of $215,000. General manager of operations Jeff Lawrence was named interim CAO on Feb. 5, but resigned his post on April 22.
In Athabasca County, Gary Buchanan was fired as CAO on April 8. He was given a $105,727 severance.
• With files from Alex Fuller and Joel Wittnebel.
