NPCA on road to change, says new chair
Human resources issues still cling to embattled agency
David Bylsma sees his role as the new chair of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority board of directors as that of referee.
Rather than seeing himself as the person in charge of the NPCA, the recently elected mayor of West Lincoln regards the position as a mediator of opinions to keep the board on track.
“The art of the compromise is sometimes described as a solution to a problem that no one is happy with,” said Bylsma in his first interview since elected as NPCA board chair by his fellow board members on Monday. “With a board like this, not everyone is going to agree. So I see this like being a referee in hockey. I’m the person to help resolve issues to keep the game going.”
That said, Bylsma said the incoming board, particularly the 12 members appointed to the board by Niagara regional council, are united with a singular focus — to transform the beleaguered agency into one the public can trust.
That mandate was suggested by Ontario’s Auditor General last year who found the NPCA was plagued by management problems, including poor hiring practices and issues around how the NPCA contracted services.
Rebuilding the public trust starts by reforming the NPCA’s governance, Bylsma said. Other issues, including improving the NPCA’s conservation programming, can’t be adequately addressed until the NPCA’s leadership house is in order.
He pointed out that the Niagara board members were appointed on an interim basis, and have three months to accomplish their task. He is not looking beyond that time frame.
“I think everyone around that table is there is to change the NPCA,” he said. “Voters in Niagara asked for change. If we cannot do this, with this group, then no one can. If we do our job properly and the governance issues are addressed, then the board, whatever shape that board takes, can tackle other issues.”
Bylsma said that transformation began Monday with a marathon board meeting, mostly held behind closed doors, to discuss human resources matters. The key issue the board discussed was
the firing of former NPCA CAO Mark Brickell, The Standard has learned, and the board listened to the advice of an HR lawyer.
NPCA director of communications Krystle Caputo said on the advice of the agency’s lawyer, she would not disclose who the HR lawyer is nor who at the NPCA authorized his hiring.
However, The Standard has learned that acting CAO David Barrick authorized the hiring of Mark Mason, an HR lawyer from the Toronto firm of Hicks Morely.
Brickell was fired on Dec. 6 — the same evening as the previous NPCA board members were replaced by Niagara regional council. Brickell, whose lawyer maintains his client’s termination was unlawful, was fired after he fired Barrick as the corporate services director.
After Brickell was fired, NPCA clerk Lisa McManus was made interim CAO and she reinstated Barrick.
The Standard has learned that Barrick is claiming he was never fired because his termination by Brickell was improper.
McManus went on indefinite leave, and Barrick was made acting CAO, although the NPCA has refused to say who made the appointment in the absence of a functioning board of directors.
Barrick then fired the NPCA’s watershed manager, promoted Caputo to communications director and placed her in charge of human resources, and made Micheal Reles, who was the coms director, the NPCA clerk.
Barrick was not permitted to remain in the board meeting when Mason was providing advice to the board, but Caputo remained present.
The board emerged from the closed session and passed several motions to create a CAO executive search committee, a governance reform committee and voted to freeze Barrick’s powers to hire and fire staff or engage in further organizational changes without board approval. The membership of the committees and their mandates will be selected at the next NPCA board meeting. Bylsma said he understands there are people, including some board members, who want to see change at the NPCA happen at a faster pace.
The board has to go about its job by the book, he said.
“We are going to make sure we do it right,” he said. “I think the motions that we passed show we are doing that. We are going to get a new CAO, we are going to change the governance of the NPCA.”