Lac La Biche County Mayor Aurel Langevin says a lot of thought went into the decision to terminate the job of the municipality's cheif administrative boss and give him a $215,000 severance package.
"Going forward, Council felt that a change in leadership was required. A great deal of deliberation took place over this matter before a decision was made,” saiid Langevin in a press release issued by the municipality on the evening of February 19, a day after councillors officially fired the CAO without cause.
On Feb. 4, Lac La Biche County councillors held a private meeting at the county offices to discuss Brideau's future. A decision was made to terminate his employment without cause and to give him two weeks to appeal the decision. Brideau was also given an immediate two weeks leave with pay. The next day an interim plan was laid out and approved that sees other senior administrators taking over roles to help cover the CAO duties until a new person is hired. Brideau did not appeal the decision, leading to the official termination notice this past Tuesday.
Despite the amount of discussion reportedly coming before the decision, county officials have no set time on when a replacement will be found for Brideau, with the recent press release saying only that councillors have "held preliminary discussions about next steps to fill the vacant CAO position; however, no definite decision about the recruitment process has been determined."
Until a new CAO is hired, two senior administrators will see a 15 per cent increase in their existing salaries as they take over responsibilities of the CAO job.
According to the municipal hierarchy, the CAO is the only employee of the county council. The current council was elected in October of 2013.
