CAO selection committee member never saw deal
A member of the selection committee that recommended Carmen D’Angelo for Niagara Region’s chief administrative job in 2016 says she never saw his completed contract.
During an interview on CKTB 610 AM Monday morning, Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton said while she was aware of key details of the contract, she hasn’t actually seen the document.
“And I knew what was going to be in the contract. Always important elements you discuss at committee. But the final contract, I did not see it,” she said.
The Standard has learned that when D’Angelo’s original deal was drafted, the Region’s human resources department was cut out of the process. The office of now-out-going Regional Chair Alan Caslin told the human resources department to produce a “blank” contract missing crucial details.
Those details were filled in during direct negotiations that took place between Caslin and D’Angelo.
The human resources department only saw the contract after it was signed and D’Angelo’s hiring had been confirmed by regional council, senior government sources have said.
Councillors, however, did not see the contract either. They voted on a confidential chair’s report that laid out key details, including D’Angelo’s salary, benefits and car allowance.
Last Friday, D’Angelo told CKTB that because he negotiated with Caslin in 2016, he approached the chair less than a year into his contract to renegotiate its terms, including an extension to 2022.
It was approved by Caslin without the knowledge or consent of regional council.
The original deal was set to expire this month and contained a two-year extension that needed to be approved by council.
The new contract, which former integrity commissioner John Mascarin said should be null and void because it was never approved by council, contains unusual provisions including three years pay if D’Angelo is fired with cause and a golden parachute of a year’s pay if council did not renew the deal. Regional councillors were allowed to see the new contract in a closed session of council in August.
That 2017 deal is now under investigation by Ontario’s ombudsman, who is also probing the circumstances of D’Angelo’s hiring in 2016.