Search to hire La Ronge administrator continues with no end in sight

The CAO of a municipality is a wide-reaching position as the employee is in charge of general operations. That includes financial and legislative duties, accounting, assessment taxation, human resources, applying for grants and more. Sigmeth stated the CAO also provides advice and guidance to council on what are proper financial decisions.

An experienced CAO can also bridge the gap between the ongoings of a municipality and an inexperienced council. Members of the current council were newly elected in October 2016 after all but one former councillors decided not to run.

“Say you have half-old, half-new coming in, so you have some experience and that can help, especially if you have an inexperienced council,” Sigmeth said. “If you have an inexperienced administrator and an inexperienced council, you can maybe make some bad decisions for your community.”

But, Sigmeth stated it can take up to a year to hire a CAO in some cases. Woytowich also confirmed he doesn’t have any concerns with the current administration at the town office, adding acting-CAO Robbie Bender is being supervised by the treasurer who worked for many years as a CAO.

La Ronge has been without an administrator since the resignation of Stephen Conway in September 2018, who filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Right Commission and Saskatchewan Ombudsman. He alleged some councillors made racist or homophobic comments out of the public gaze at council, some engaged in financial wrongdoings and claimed at one point his life was put in danger.

In emails to larongeNOW, Conway stated the Commission rendered a decision that he is not a directly-related party to the racist comments he claimed were made by council. As of the last week, Conway said the file was still active with the Ombudsman.

Woytowich believes the town is struggling to find the right person for the job due to the complexity of the municipality. He stated La Ronge isn’t a typical place to work as a CAO because of the number of regional agreements in place, the local ownership of the airport, and the tri-community dynamic with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and Air Ronge. Some of the people who applied weren’t certified for the position, Woytowich noted, while others wanted too much for their time.

“Putting it bluntly, people see the complexity of the job and they apply for it, and their expectation is $150,000-$160,000 a year,” he said. “That’s what they want because they see us the same as a city and we don’t pay that. We’re a small town and we have a small tax base.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno

by Derek Cornet

Search to hire La Ronge administrator continues with no end in sight

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