The time approaches for the town's interim chief administrative officer to depart, and it's time for council members to take responsibility for the issue.
The time approaches for the town's interim chief administrative officer to depart, and it's time for council members to take responsibility for the issue.
While interim CAO Doug Topinka has not given a set deadline for his departure, he has expressed plans to depart sometime after 2017 budget deliberation are complete and pool project RFP's settled.
For two months council has taken zero action on hiring a new CAO, and the town has been without a permanent CAO since August.
The mayor— also hiring committee chair since Coun. Gurba resigned— waits on councillors to propose action, and councillors obstinately refuse to compromise and make no moves.
Inertia's a funny thing. Unless someone pushes the ball, it's going to stay still.
The table remains at a deadlock since their Jan. 10 administrative committee meeting, because council is split down the middle on how to proceed since Nicole Adams resigned as councillor at the end of December.
In November the town was turned down by an individual they offered the job to, after spending $14,000 on a hiring consultant to help the town through the process.
Different councillors have varying accounts on what happened after that in the hiring process, but it's inconsequential at this point.
Nonetheless, it's time for somebody to show some leadership, because as Gurba said, it's costly for the town to keep Topinka on an interim basis, and the town needs to have a permanent CAO in place.
Compromise is essential in such circumstances, yet councillors aren't even discussing the issue. Athabasca will remain in limbo, perhaps moving from costly temporary leadership to temporary leadership.
Some members of council don't even see this as a pressing issue, which is concerning. Yes, the town has a CAO currently, but the key here is that it's in the interim.
Current CAO Doug Topinka already has one foot out the door, as he came out of retirement to assist the town temporarily while they looked for a permanent CAO.
Now, council just isn't making any movement at all. It's time to start the hunt again.
