Senior staffer no longer with NPCA
NIAGARA PENINSULA CONSERVATION AUTHORITY: More personnel changes
A senior staffer with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority who earned more in 2013 than anyone else in the organization has been let go.
Board members of the NPCA received an e- mail Thursday afternoon saying Mary Stack, a longtime employee, “was no longer with the organization.”
Contacted Monday, NPCA chief administrative officer Carmen D’Angelo initially called it an “internal HR matter.” After being asked for more detail, he confirmed the supervisor of marketing and community relations was gone.
“Mary Stack is no longer with the NPCA,” he said.
Asked why, D’Angelo said “that’s an internal HR matter. It’s not for open public discussion.”
Conservation authority board member Brian Baty, a regional councillor for the Town of Pelham, said he learned of Stack’s departure Thursday.
“There was no advanced discussion of this at the board level. There may have been in terms of with the chair or vice chair, but not at the board level that I’m aware of,” he said.
In March, Welland MPP Cindy Forster raised concerns at Queen’s Park over the NPCA’s actions after the agency allegedly fired one- fifth of its staff over the course of two years. That included a major restructuring that, among other changes, s aw St ac k moved from director of communications to the position of supervisor of marketing and community relations. A communications specialist was also hired late in 2013.
As director of communica- tions, Stack was paid $100,361 in 2012, according to the Public Sector Salary Disclosure list. On the 2013 list, Stack was listed as supervisor of marketing and communications and was paid $163,692, the highest amount of the four NPCA employees who made the list.
D’Angelo wouldn’t comment on why Stack’s salary was that high for 2013, saying only the NPCA’s obligation to report salaries through the Public Sector Salary Disclosure list had been fulfilled.
Along with Stack, another staffer — Beth Best, coordinator of the NPCA’s annual Niagara Children’s Water Festival — was also let go last week, D’Angelo confirmed.
“Her contract was not renewed,” he said.
D’Angelo wouldn’t comment when asked if anyone else was let go.
“Those are internal HR matters that I can’t discuss with you,” he said.
Messages left for both Stack and Best were not returned Monday.
The next NPCA board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Ball’s Falls Conservation Area.