The Mayor of Chatham-Kent doesn't believe the sudden departure of the municipality's incoming Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) will hinder the search that is currently underway for another top administrator.
On March 17, 2022, the municipality announced Thomas Kelly, who was next in line to become Chatham-Kent's CAO, was no longer a municipal employee. That followed a Ministry of Labour investigation into alleged workplace harassment at the municipality.
Mayor Darrin Canniff said the last search attracted more than 30 applicants who wanted to be the CAO in Chatham-Kent and he hopes this search will draw the same interest.
"If we could back in time it would be different, but I think that overall, all the good things that are happening in the community, I think there's a lot of people that are going to want to be part of it," said Canniff.
A bylaw to appoint interim CAO Tony Haddad will go before council Monday night and current CAO Don Shropshire will be stepping aside on Tuesday to let Haddad take over the role temporarily.
Canniff doesn't see issues with Haddad assuming the role for just three months until a new CAO is found, saying it would be unfair to expect any current staff member to put more on their already full plate.
"With everything that's going on, we didn't want to look to somebody inside to say here come on do your own role and come and step into this role too. So, we really need some additional resources," the mayor said.
Shropshire, who was set to retire in December, said he will be sticking around part-time for a few weeks to help and support Haddad during the transition.
"I'm expecting that I'll still be around to support certain files. The mayor and I and members of council have talked about what I can help with," Shropshire said. "Primarily, I'm thinking of Wheatley. We've had some major challenges there and having Tony come in and do all of that immediately off the top is going to be hard."
The CAO search last year that concluded with Kelly being selected for the CAO job cost around $28,000 and this new search triggered by Kelly leaving will cost a little more on top of that but not another full $28,000, according to the mayor.
Canniff said Waterhouse Executive Search was hired as the search company last summer after a competitive bidding process that attracted 14 companies wanting the contract.
