LAC LA BICHE - Ongoing efforts to find a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Lac La Biche County was the topic of a special council meeting held on Aug. 31.
Dan Small, who served an 11-year tenure as a senior municipal administrator, was released from his position following an in-camera council session on June 13. At the time, the reason council gave for ending Small’s employment was because they wanted a change in leadership.
Since then, the municipality has actively been recruiting for a new CAO, but to date, the position remains unfilled.
Most of Thursday’s meeting was held in-camera with disclosure being harmful to personal privacy cited as the reason for the closed session. With no other information posted, Chief Administrative Officer recruitment was the only public reference to the discussion on the agenda.
When council emerged from the nearly three-hour in-camera discussion, a decision was made not to ratify the appointment of a prospective CAO candidate. Furthermore, council also made a resolution to continue to retain a third party to help with CAO recruitment.
The CAO position is the only administrative position controlled by elected councillors.
In June, County councillors appointed Melanie McConnell as Acting Chief Administrative Officer until a permanent replacement for Small is found.
