‘A blatant conflict of interest’
CBRM councillor won’t meet with Destination Louisbourg officials over hiring controversy
Regional councillor Kevin Saccary says he has no plans of meeting with officials with Destination Louisbourg, due to what he feels is the group’s lack of integrity.
He said after he spoke out about what he feels was “a blatant conflict of interest” in their hiring practices he was contacted by JoAnna LaTulippe- Rochon, chair of Fortress Louisbourg Association, but has no interest in dealing with the group. “We don’t need organizations like this creating negativity, in any community,” said the councillor for District 8 of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, explaining his issue is only with this group and that he remains proud to represent Louisbourg, as it is a proud community.
“This whole hiring process appears shady at best.”
Destination Louisbourg is a partnership between the Fortress Louisbourg Association and the Synergy Louisbourg Development Society.
Concerns rose earlier this month when Karen Jacobs of Fall River expressed concerns in the Cape Breton Post about what she felt was a lack of ethics in filling the position of executive director for Destination Louisbourg. She told the Post on March 14 that one of the people who interviewed her landed the job himself.
Jacobs explained that on Feb. 5, she was interviewed by Chip Bird, retired Cape Breton field unit superintendent for Parks Canada; Lester Marchand, board of director member for Synergy Louisbourg Development Society; and Mitch McNutt, former general manager of the Fortress of Louisbourg and secretary of the Synergy Louisbourg Development Society board.
Jacobs said she was told the three interviewers would make recommendations to Dorothy Payne, chair of Synergy Louisbourg Development Society, and JoAnna LaTulippe-Rochon, chair of Fortress Louisbourg Association. Jacobs was then contacted by the board chairs requesting written responses to two questions.
She was notified on Feb. 23 that a successful candidate had been identified for the position. Jacobs said she was shocked to find out the successful candidate was McNutt.
Since the Cape Breton Post story was published, Saccary said he has been hearing from the general public and many are “flabbergasted.”
“They are shocked to see this stuff going on. People and different organizations have been accused of something like this in the past, but this is pretty blatant. I’m not putting up with it, (which is) why I’m going public.”
Saccary said since then he has also found out McNutt was interviewed only by Chip Bird, one of the people doing the initial interviews with him. He said there was certainly no objective assessment there because Bird, former superintendent of Parks Canada, and McNutt, former general manager of Fortress Louisbourg Association, would have been former working colleagues.
“In my opinion that was a conflict of interest by itself,” said Saccary. “It’s all tied in. It gets thicker as we dig.”
As well, said Saccary, LaTulippe-Rochon told him there wasn’t a closing date for the position and that the hiring was an open process. He has since found out that is not true.
“I have a copy of the original job posting. It says: ‘ Send your resume by Feb. 2.’ That’s false information they are giving me,” said Saccary.
Saccary said Synergy Louisbourg has accessed up to half a million dollars of taxpayers’ money through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency over the past number of years. He feels since Synergy is a partner in Destination Louisbourg, ACOA should be looking into these hiring practices.
However, Alex Smith, spokesperson for ACOA, said the overall operations for Destination Louisbourg, including human resources, are the responsibility of Fortress Louisbourg Association.
“The Fortress Louisbourg Association is actually the organization that hired this gentleman. They are the organization that is paying this gentleman. Although there may have been discussion and conversation between the two board chairs, it is in fact the Fortress Louisbourg Association that has hired an executive director. That organization is in turn responsible to its own board and the broader community,” Smith said.
Smith explained ACOA is not involved with Destination Louisbourg but is involved with the two other organizations in question and said both are in good standing. He also
“Regardless what the truth of the matter here is, when you’re looking at perception — if the perception is that it wasn’t a fair process then that has an impact on your brand and reputation as an employer.”
Steve Ashton, president of the Professional Association for Human Resources in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
said none of the ACOA funding given to either of those organizations was for management or executive salaries.
Saccary said the CBRM has been working with Synergy Louisbourg as well, and that he is also “concerned about representing that at the table.”
Steve Ashton, president of the Professional Association for Human Resources in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, said the association can’t comment on a particular situation as they don’t have all the details. However, he said, in general ,for any organization which is doing any interviewing or hiring, it’s always important that for whatever process you design is not only fair and ethical but that it’s seen to be fair and ethical by the stakeholders you’re dealing with.
“That could be many people, it could be internal employees to an organization, it could be your customers, and it could be your community,” said Ashton.
He said public perception is important for any non-profit organization.
“Based on what’s being raised, it sounds like the concern was people were feeling something was going on behind the scenes and the process wasn’t fair, open and transparent,” he said.
“Regardless what the truth of the matter here is, when you’re looking at perception — if the perception is that it wasn’t a fair process then that has an impact on your brand and reputation as an employer,” he said.
“That can also make it harder to recruit in the future.”
Ashton said it’s not unheard of to see a hiring process where the search failed and a qualified, suitable candidate wasn’t found. He said in those cases organizations often have to step back and look at other options they might not have thought of before.
“As HR professionals we’d probably typically advise people to put whoever you are looking at through a similar process as you go forward because people may ask you in the future how you arrived at that decision.”
In the March 14 Post story, LaTulippe-Rochon said lead responsibility for the hiring of executive director of Destination Louisbourg was with the Fortress Louisbourg Association and they invited the involvement of their partners, Synergy Louisbourg. LaTulippe-Rochon said at that time they had not received any complaints about the hiring process for the position and it was an “absolutely fair and ethical process.”
The Cape Breton Post contacted LaTulippe-Rochon and McNutt for further comment in this story, but calls were not returned.