Reles, Caputo no longer employed by NPCA
Former senior staff were in leadership posts during final months of previous board
Two senior Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority managers, who held key posts during several controversies at the agency, are no longer employed by the organization.
Michael Reles and Krystle Caputo had been on leave since their boss, former interim CAO David Barrick, left in February.
NPCA spokesperson Erika Navarro confirmed Tuesday that Caputo and Reles — who were both unsuccessful in municipal election bids last October — no longer work for the agency.
Navarro said NPCA cannot comment on human resources matters, and could not answer questions about settlements or severances.
Reles, speaking to The Standard Tuesday, said he has launched a career as a realtor. He works for Royal LePage.
“It was something I was thinking about for a long time,” he said. “I actually took the first course in 2011. So this seemed like the right time for a career change.”
Reles was a senior communications manager at NPCA for five years, acting as the voice of the agency as it found itself embroiled in public controversies largely emanating from the conduct of the previous board of directors.
“It was a difficult period. The NPCA received a lot of criticism and I certainly received a lot of criticism,” said Reles, who said NPCA informed him it was reducing the number of communications staff to make way for more front-line conservation personnel. “But I don’t have any regrets. I had a good run. Hopefully, I helped lay some foundations for the organization going forward.”
In an email Tuesday, Caputo said she was “incredibly grateful for my time with the NPCA.”
“I am proud of the work that I was able to accomplish during my tenure.”
She said she is pursuing a “doctorate in communications.”
The pair assumed new leadership positions during a drastic NPCA shakeup that started in December 2018, when the rump NPCA board fired then-chief administrative officer Mark Brickell, who had fired Barrick the previous month. The board appointed then-clerk Lisa McManus as CAO. She reappointed Barrick and then went on medical leave. The board then made Barrick acting CAO shortly afterwards.
Caputo, a communications officer with NPCA at the time, was promoted by Barrick to director of communications and administration.
Reles, who answered to Caputo after the promotion, acted as clerk for a few board meetings, but said Tuesday he was never moved into the post and remained as a senior communications manager.
In late February, after coming under fire from regional councillors for not answering NPCA budget questions at a council meeting, Barrick and the newly installed NPCA board came to a “mutual separation agreement,” the details of which remain secret. Barrick left, then Caputo and Reles went on leave and did not return to work at NPCA. Reles would not disclose why he went on leave.