Caslin gave D’Angelo golden parachute
Region CAO’s revised contract gives him a full year’s salary if his contract isn’t renewed
The contract for Niagara Region chief administrative officer Carmen D’Angelo was amended and extended unilaterally in October 2017 by Regional Chair Alan Caslin — and includes a golden parachute worth more than $230,000, The Standard has learned.
Sources familiar with the contract say that under its terms, if regional council does not renew D’Angelo’s contract when it expires in 2022, he is entitled to a full extra year’s salary.
During a special meeting of regional council last Thursday, Caslin disclosed that he had, without the approval of council, added an extra year to the optional extension of D’Angelo’s contract and enacted that option.
The Standard has now learned Caslin changed the terms of the CAO’s contract after D’Angelo had been on the job for less than a year.
Council voted to hire D’Angelo on Oct. 31, 2016. Two Standard exposés, published in April and July this year, showed the hiring process was tainted. D’Angelo downloaded four documents written by Caslin’s staff — three by Caslin’s policy director Robert D’Amboise and one by the chair’s then communications director Jason Tamming — that gave D’Angelo inside information candidates should not have.
The memos by D’Amboise provided confidential information about other CAO candidates and the interview questions. Tamming, meanwhile, helped D’Angelo prepare a written submission to the hiring committee.
Tamming was later promoted to director of communications for the entire Region and answers to D’Angelo.
On Thursday, regional council voted unanimously to ask Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube to investigate the CAO hiring process. Dube previously investigated the December 2017 incident at the Region when staff illegally seized the computer and notes of Standard journalist Bill Sawchuk.
Ombudsman’s spokeswoman Linda Williamson said “in the coming days” Dube’s office will announce if it will investigate the hiring process.
In October 2016 council voted to give D’Angelo a three-year contract with an optional extension for two years. He is paid more than $230,000 annually, plus benefits.
But less than a year later, Caslin amended and extended D’Angelo’s contract. The contract was set to expire in 2019, unless council voted to enact the two-year extension. Under Caslin’s extension deal, the contract doesn’t expire until 2022.
Councillors did not become
aware of the extension until July 26, when human resources staff told the politicians during a closed-door meeting that it could cost more than $1 million to end D’Angelo’s employment.
Councillors were not told until last Thursday that Caslin had taken it upon himself to change D’Angelo’s contract. He told council he did it because it “made sense to me.” He said he wanted to extend D’Angelo’s contract to 2022 so the council elected that year could either choose to select a new CAO or rehire D’Angelo. Caslin did not explain why that would be necessary, but apologized if he overstepped his authority.
Niether Caslin nor D’Angelo responded to interview requests for this story.
Last week, the Region’s former integrity commissioner, John Mascarin, told The Standard the Ontario Municipal Act requires councils to make decisions through bylaws. If council did not explicitly grant Caslin the power to change the CAO’s contract in a bylaw, D’Angelo’s new deal is “null and void,” he said.
A Region spokesman told The Standard no bylaw regarding the extension of the CAO contract has been passed by council.
The precise terms of D’Angelo’s revised deal were not disclosed during the public portion of last Thursday’s council meeting. However, during a marathon closed-door session, councillors were allowed to read D’Angelo’s contract but had to return documents to the regional clerk.
During Thursday’s closed-door meeting, councillors told the Region’s director of legal services to hire a “fully independent” external lawyer to advise them on D’Angelo’s contract.
Region staff had previously hired Toronto lawyer Paul DeMelo to advise councillors on the CAO issue, although DeMelo was part of the legal team that represented D’Angelo and Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority during the agency’s failed $100,000 defamation suit against local activist Ed Smith.
The Region’s communication department has not responded to multiple questions from The Standard asking if legal director Donna Gibbs or D’Angelo authorized the hiring DeMelo.