NPCA’s acting CAO steps down
New records disposal policy approved
Peter Graham has stepped down as acting CAO of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.
Mark Brickell will take his place as acting CAO, effective Friday.
Brickell will move up from NPCA’s director of operations and strategic initiatives position.
“Peter Graham has done an excellent job as acting CAO,” NPCA board chairman Sandy Annunziata said in a release. “He has taken on a challenging role and has shown professionalism and commitment to the organization the entire time.
“On behalf of our board, I would like to thank Peter for his dedication and focus. I have every bit of confidence that Mr. Brickell will be able to continue moving the organization forward in the interim.”
No one on the board mentioned the decision during the public portion of NPCA’s board meeting Wednesday morning. The change was announced in a press release after the meeting.
The changes were made during a lengthy in-camera session before the public part of the meeting began, said Mike Reles, NPCA’s communications specialist.
Graham will stay at NPCA and return to his role as director of watershed management.
His departure from the CAO position marked an eventful morning at the agency.
Union officials including Smokey Thomas, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), addressed a protest of about 30 supporters and activists before the meeting.
Thomas called for a clean sweep of management at the conservation authority. His union represents 32 bargaining unit employees at the agency.
Thomas also said he would ask the provincial government for a management review, which is different than the value-for-money audit Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk will undertake, likely in the late fall.
Thomas added that he will offer to make a presentation to the board on the state of labour relations at the agency, which he characterized as poor.
Thomas spoke with both Annunziata and David Barrick, NPCA’s director of corporate services, in the parking lot before the meeting began.
Asked about the conversation after the meeting, Annunziata smiled and said, “It is between Smokey and me. Ask Smokey.”
Thomas said Annunziata told him he would be happy to meet with him any time.
“We are going to write him a letter and come down and meet with him,” Thomas said. “He seemed friendly at first glance. I suspect he won’t be so friendly the next time we meet.”
At the public part of the board meeting, members voted to move forward to standardize the agencies record retention and disposal policies. That set off alarm bells among activists, given the agency is about to enter into an audit.
“The record stuff scares me,” Thomas said. “Once you burn the records, they are gone. Once records are destroyed, it is not the end of the fight, but you can’t get at the rot.”
NPCA board member Bruce Timms acknowledged the public is worried about the new records policy.
“Judging by the number of emails I have received to date about the nature of the policy, I am going to make a motion that we not destroy any records since 2010 — and certainly no records from the time span of the audit report until after the full audit is completed.”
Timms’ motion, which was seconded by West Lincoln Mayor and board member Doug Joyner, passed unanimously.
The new policy covers about 70 different categories including everything from how long the agency retains unsolicited resumes (one year) to contracts (seven years) to land easements (26 years).
“The policy is in place where we didn’t have a policy before,” Barrick, a regional councillor for Port Colborne, said. “You heard that there was additional resolution today that said nothing will go out the door. I’m happy about that.
“Now we will work with information management to put the process in place. I can’t answer the specifics of what the policy will be because it just passed, but we will start to get the tools and record management software in place.
“There has been a lot of policies created in the last three years where there were no policy or policy gaps. This is no different. If you go through the board packages and minutes, there have been policies coming forward all the time. This is one of many where we are putting some rigour in place to ensure we have a policy to point to.”