A special Town of Athabasca council meeting held just after noon on Aug. 15 ended with the appointment of an interim chief administrative officer.
Following some discussion, council voted that Warren Zyla, foreman for the town’s parks, fill in as interim CAO.
Coun. Nichole Adams moved to appoint Zyla as the CAO. Councillors Joanne Peckham, Shelly Gurba and Adams voted for the motion. Mayor Roger Morrill and Coun. Tim Verhaeghe voted against it. Councillors Steve Schafer and Tanu Evans were absent from the meeting.
“(Zyla)’s got no experience with municipal politics; he’s got no experience with the MGA (Municipal Government Act),” Verhaeghe said. “This person, in my respectful opinion, and no offence to Warren Zyla, but this person is not qualified on an interim basis to be CAO for the Town of Athabasca. And that is with all due respect.”
Adams was vocal in her stance supporting Zyla.
“Municipal Affairs said any town employee can be appointed, and Warren has an excellent reputation,” Adams said in an interview following the meeting. “He has good relations with the staff and everything (to) fill in.”
Zyla has been the parks foreman for about two and a half years. Previous to that, he was employed at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex and said he had held positions on committees with Athabasca County.
“Right now everyone is freaking out about getting paid or not, so that’s my focus,” Zyla said. “They approached me and I was happy to accept. It’s a tough time, we have to plow through this.”
Municipal Affairs public affairs officer Jerry Ward clarified that an interim CAO has the same powers as a permanent CAO, and that the position did not have to be filled by a town employee, but could be drawn from a larger pool of candidates.
Another candidate
Earlier in the meeting, Morrill made a motion to appoint former Town of Athabasca mayor Colleen Powell as the CAO, a motion that was backed by Verhaeghe, who attended the meeting over the phone. Gurba, Peckham and Adams voted against the motion, defeating it.
“I think that the feeling around the table was that we did want someone that was not necessarily involved with council and administration,” Adams said.
Verhaeghe voiced his support for Powell.
“She’s got experience with municipal politics by being a councillor and former mayor,” he said. “She’d got administrative experience with her previous employment with Athabasca University. She’s got experience in dealing with provincial politics. I think she is more than able, more than qualified to fill the position on an interim basis.”
In a previous special meeting held Aug. 10, council released former CAO Josh Pyrcz from his contract, which included a five-week notice of resignation. At the same meeting, council set out and failed to appoint an interim CAO, despite naming former CAO Doug Topinka as a candidate.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily appropriate to have a former mayor become the administrative head of the town,” Adams said. “Being councillor isn’t the same as running the town administratively. There’s different qualifications. Certainly, I would say being a CAO requires more qualifications than becoming a councillor.”
Time of the essence
At the outset of the meeting, Morrill read a letter he had received from Coral Murphy, a manager of municipal advisory with Municipal Affairs.
Morrill had written to the department with an update on the town’s CAO situation, requesting “guidance or thoughts” to relay to council about having the motion implemented by Municipal Affairs.
In a response, received by Morrill on the morning of Aug. 12 and forwarded to other council members, Murphy stated that council needed to come to an agreement on a candidate or any individual to fill the CAO position, as certain legislative powers, duties and functions of the CAO – like signing for bills and paycheques – could not be completed without the interim CAO.
“Section 205 of the Municipal Government Act states that every council must appoint a person to carry out the powers, duties and functional position of CAO,” the letter read. “There is no qualifier to say with X time frame therefore the time accepting a resignation council is required to appoint another person.”
She continued, noting that council’s request could not be fulfilled by the ministry as Municipal Affairs does not have the legislative authority to appoint municipal administrators for municipalities.
A quick regular meeting
A regular town council meeting was held Aug. 16, however, without a CAO named to draw up the agenda, the only motions included approving past minutes and drawing the meeting to a close.
