NPCA needs to improve hiring practices, says auditor general
The hiring of three managers at Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority raises concerns over its employment practices, says a report of Ontario’s auditor general released Thursday.
The 2014 hiring of former NPCA board member Carmen D’Angelo to the post of NPCA CAO, the 2013 hiring of Port Colborne regional councillor David Barrick — a former NPCA board member — to a director job, and the 2015 hiring of another manager show the need for the agency “to review existing recruitment policies and practices to ensure fairness and transparency,” the report says.
Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk says NPCA has improved its hiring practices since it brought on a human resources manager in 2016, but there is still work to do. The report says NPCA has improved its application screenings and documentation.
From 2012 to 2015, there were no records of interviews for 50 per cent of people hired by NPCA . Evidence that proper screening of applications happened in only 19 per cent of cases. Since 2016, NPCA has complete records. Nevertheless, the hiring of D’Angelo, Barrick and a third manager indicate more work is required, says the report. The document does not name the men, but The Standard has verified who the circumstances refer to in two cases.
D’Angelo was a member of the NPCA board and in 2013 took a leave of absence to conduct a human resources restructuring project for the agency. That project involved “staff restructuring decisions related to hirings and terminations and negotiating the terms and timing of the then CAO’s departure,” the report says.
Shortly before the CAO job vacancy was posted in 2014 D’Angelo “returned to the board and submitted his application for CAO.”
“He was on the board (although not the hiring committee) when the hiring selected which candidates interview .… He took a leave of absence only after being selected for an interview. Following the interviews, he was appointed to the CAO position,” the report says.
D’Angelo left NPCA in 2016 when he was hired as Niagara Region CAO. That hiring is now under investigation by the Ontario Ombudsman.
Barrick, meanwhile, applied for a senior management position at NPCA in 2013 while serving as a member of the board of directors. He took a leave of absence when he applied, but another candidate got the job.
“(Barrick) was awarded another newly created senior management position,” the report says. “There was no evidence that this job was posted for competition, even though the chair of the NPCA board … had committed to a recruitment process for this position.”
The hiring decision was “made by a selection committee, made up of three NPCA board members, all fellow elected officials.”
“The job offer was not signed or approved by the CAO.”
In the third case, a manager was hired despite submitting an application after the closing deadline and not having “all of the required education or experience listed in the job posting.” This person had “worked with and volunteered on the election campaign of one member of the recruitment panel at a different organization.”
The auditor general’s report recommends NPCA update its recruitment policies to ensure the conservation authority “follows fair and transparent recruitment and promotion processes, and the bestqualified individuals are hired and promoted.”
In its response, NPCA says it will update its policies as recommended and build upon recent improvements.