Frustration follows CAO meeting
Community members and regional representatives who were hoping for answers Thursday, are instead left with frustration and outrage a day later.
Several regional councillors contacted Friday said they had received numerous emails and phone calls from angry residents in the wake of the meeting, held to discuss reports that the office of Chair Alan Caslin interfered in the hiring of the Region’s chief administrative officer Carmen D'Angelo in 2016.
“It started off last night after the meeting, how discouraged some of us were with the process and what took place,” said St. Catharines Coun. Brian Heit.
And Friday morning, he said it continued with a phone call before 8 a.m., “from a constituent who was just livid.”
He said he received several phone calls and emails from people as the day wore on.
“I talked to a constituent for over an hour about how frustrated they are with what took place.”
Considering the absence of staff who might have been able to shed light on the issues, Heit said “it sure feels like” Thursday’s meeting was deliberately undermined.
“Normally, we would always have the CAO at the meeting and if not, his designate. We would always have an acting CAO.”
Instead, D’Angelo’s seat was sat vacant during the meeting.
“That in itself was a surprise,” Heit said.
Welland Coun. George Marshall shared those concerns.
“Enough things happened that made me suspicious, very suspicious,” said Marshall.
But Regional Chair Alan Caslin denied any efforts to undermine the meeting.
“No, it is not accurate,” he wrote in an email Friday. “It is an unfounded and unproven claim by some councillors, candidates, and special interests that wish to politicize the end of this term of council for election purposes.”
Caslin, who is currently out of the country on vacation, said he had nothing to do with the absences of the two staff members — Jason Tamming and Rob D’Amboise — who formerly worked in his office.
“Jason does not report to me, he reports to the CAO. As you saw during the proceedings and you already reported, following much confusion it was made
clear that neither the clerk, HR (human resources), or legal staff requested that these individuals attend the meeting. Further, I did not receive any request for my staff to attend,” Caslin wrote.
He did, however, approve D’Angelo’s absence.
“The CAO was on vacation that included a previously scheduled medical appointment which could not be rescheduled. The CAO has given me permission to share this with you,” Caslin wrote.
Since council ultimately voted Thursday to defer the issues until next week’s meeting, taking place at 5:30 p.m., Thursday in regional council chambers, Caslin said he will consult with the clerk, legal and human resources staff upon his return to determine if appropriate staff will be available at that time.
“That said, council has one employee, the CAO,” Caslin added. “I do not direct the actions of any corporate staff to attend meetings. My priority at the upcoming meeting will be to ensure that council starts to conduct themselves as a responsible employer.”
Some councillors remain optimistic they will finally be able to resolve concerns next week.
Despite the disappointment, Welland Mayor Frank Campion said the meeting at least allowed council to set a direction for meetings to come.
“I still think it was a valuable meeting because it really prepares us for the next meeting on Thursday. We have the questions, we have a plan,” he said. “Without this meeting we may have ended up next Thursday having the same meeting we had last night.”
Campion said he remains hopeful “we can get across the finish line of this one, and just get it done and get it done properly.”
Others aren’t as confident.
“We’ll be back at it next week. I don’t know how that’s going to go,” said St. Catharines Coun. Tim Rigby.
“I think the provincial ombudsman, assigned by the province, is the one who has to look into who is responsible. I think that’s the only really clear way.”
Heit said he previously attempted to bring a motion forward to call in the ombudsman’s office to investigate the hiring process.
“The ombudsman should be the one doing the investigation,” Heit said. “Our own staff shouldn’t be investigating their boss and people they work with and the chair.”
Marshall, too, said he’d prefer an investigation by the ombudsman.
“I’m not going to be involved in a witch hunt, and I’m not going to be involved in a best guess. I want information, I want empirical evidence, I don’t need guesses.”
Rigby said regional council’s lame duck status — which prevents elected representatives from hiring or firing staff — adds to the challenges council faces in dealing with the issues.
“It just throws complete screws into anything that we may want to do,” he said. “I have a suspicion it’s going to be the new council that is going to have to make the decisions in the end.”
But for now, Heit said he just wants to determine what happened, as soon as possible.
“Let’s just get to the truth, whether it be this council of the next council, the air has got to be cleared,” he said.
An email sent to D’Angelo asking him for an explanation about his absence resulted in an automatic reply saying he is currently out of the office.
Neither D’Amboise, policy director for the regional chair, nor strategic communications and public affairs director Tamming responded to emails.