Transparent probe into Region’s CAO hiring needed

A months-long investigation by Standard reporter Grant LaFleche into the process used to hire Niagara Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo has prompted a crisis of confidence in the Region.

The investigation, which was published Friday, has raised troubling questions about how the most powerful bureaucrat in Niagara was hired and the behindthe-scenes goings on among councillors and staff.

The Standard’s investigation found that a memo containing a list of CAO candidate names and biographical information was sent to D’Angelo — while he himself was a candidate for the position — during the selection process.

The document was created by Rob D’Amboise, policy director for Regional Chair Alan Caslin, in late September 2016. D’Angelo’s final interview for the job was Oct. 12, 2016, and council voted to hire him as the Region’s top bureaucrat on Oct. 31, 2016.

It is not clear who leaked the memo to D’Angelo.

The names of candidates are supposed to be kept secret and committee members sign confidentiality agreements.

In response to Friday’s story, various calls for an investigation into what occurred have ensued.

St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik has called for the investigation to be independent of the chair’s and CAO’s offices. Others, such as Niagara Falls Mayor

Jim Diodati, have said an internal review should first be carried out and if council is unhappy with the result, an external investigation can be done.

Caslin has also called for an investigation.

“In the interest of openness and transparency, I have requested that an independent HR inquiry of the entire hiring process be undertaken,” wrote Caslin in a Monday email to councillors obtained by The Standard. “The director of human resources will be bringing forward options to Regional Council on Thursday.”

We fully support these calls for an investigation but stress we believe the Ontario Ombudsman’s office is the proper official to conduct it. An internal investigation will not meet current needs, especially not when the CAO, some members of senior staff and the chair’s office are directly involved.

Thursday night’s regional council meeting will determine whether the public can have any faith in this current council to do the right thing.

Any discussion at that meeting should not be taken behind closed doors but should adhere to the chair’s stated goal of “openness and transparency.” It is only in this way that the residents of Niagara can be brought to trust the process which unfolds.

There have been attempts by some on regional council, such as Grimsby Coun. Tony Quirk, to deflect public attention away from the key issues and questions raised by our investigation. For instance, there has been an attempt to imply that D’Amboise was perfectly within his rights to write the memo. Perhaps he was and perhaps he wasn’t. This question may be interesting, but it isn’t the main issue.

Here are some key questions which need to be answered through this independent investigation:

Who leaked the memo to D’Angelo? Why was the memo leaked to D’Angelo? What did Chair Caslin know and when did he know it? Why did D’Angelo not come forward to let the hiring committee know he was in possession of the memo?

These questions get to the very heart of this matter and speak to the moral and political underpinnings of those involved.

The CAO oversees a billion-dollar corporation, with thousands of employees, that directly affects the lives of every resident of Niagara.

If the residents of Niagara can’t trust the way Niagara Region fills the most important and influential bureaucratic position in the municipality, how can they trust any action the Region takes? And how can they trust the people who are making those decisions, from the bureaucrats involved to the politicians?

We await the outcome with interest.