CAO contracts at centre of council dispute
When Councillor Doreen Johnson brought forward a notice of motion calling for the public release of the municipality’s Chief Administrative Officer’s (CAO) and the Deputy CAO’s contracts, it landed in the middle of an already volatile moment for the Crowsnest Pass. The motion followed weeks of public confrontation and debate over governance boundaries and a widening gap between expectations of transparency and the legal realities governing municipal administration.
Those tensions were visible at the Dec. 3 council meeting during a discussion on whether to expand public input from five minutes to 10 minutes. During that meeting, Mindy Pawluk addressed council at length. Her remarks were recorded and form part of the official public record.
Ms. Pawluk stated these unproven allegations, “I would like to spend a few moments speaking to the culture of the municipality and its employees, most particularly how the CAO impacts the environment through his totalitarian control. His time as our CAO has brought forward many changes in the work environment. Although some have been beneficial, many have impacted culture and work environment through the adaptation of technology that has made the work environment comparable to a surveillance state. Cameras, GPS, key fobs and computer programs have become the norm to maintain control through surveillance under the guise of employee safety and theft protection. It is no secret the CAO employs a micromanaging strategy to control every aspect of the organization, as such has employed many levels of managers under him to maintain and implement his direction. Tradesmen are no longer expected to make decisions …”
At that point, councillors Doreen Glavin and Dean Ward raised a point of order stating, “I don’t think this is really the forum for attacking our administration.”
Pawluk responded, “I would argue this is a concern I would like to bring forward so council is fully aware of concerns as a member of the public and a taxpayer.”
Deputy CAO Kristin Colucci then stated, “Complaints can be made through HR. This is harassment.”
The discussion on public input continued, but no decision was made that evening.
At the Dec. 10 council meeting, Mayor Pat Rypien apologized on behalf of council to administration for what had occurred the previous week. Rypien said the incident should have been addressed in the moment and took responsibility for not stepping in as chair.
“As the chair, I should have intervened, and I failed to do so. That was a mistake, and I apologize to all for not upholding the standard of respect that I expect,” she said. Rypien told those in chambers that council needed to “speak to issues and not people,” adding that “verbal attacks and/or disrespect are not acceptable in these chambers, and I will intervene if it happens again.”
Rypien also acknowledged public and media characterizations of the current council as inexperienced and invited former council members to offer guidance as the term continues. She then called the meeting to order and moved into adopting the agenda. At that same meeting, council voted to extend public input from five minutes to 10 minutes.
To understand how this situation fits into a much broader provincial pattern, the Pass Herald conducted an in-depth interview with George B. Cuff, FCMC, an experienced municipal governance expert in Canada.
Cuff’s career spans more than five decades. He has served as a municipal employee, senior administrator and was a three-term mayor. He has completed more than 450 major governance and organizational studies, delivered more than 700 seminars across Canada, served as president of Alberta Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and authored 12 books and more than 450 articles. His newest book, The CAO, just releasd, focuses specifically on the changing role, vulnerabilities and expectations placed on chief administrative officers.
Cuff said one of the most misunderstood aspects of modern municipal government is the quality of administration.
“One of the big changes in the last two or three decades is the quality of administrators. Alberta has led the way. Better training, better schools, better understanding of the role,” he said. “In general, CAOs and department heads have improved.”
Where municipalities are failing, he said, is governance discipline.
“What I have seen is councils have become less adept at being a council and less questioning of what their role is. They are trying to replicate the role of the CAO and administration. Very few fully understand what governance is about and think they know what administration is about.”
Cuff said councils are not elected to run the organization.
“Council is not elected to replace administrators. That is one of the great tragedies of local government that this thinking is allowed. If it were not for the words ‘role clarity,’ I would not have a job.”
He said the problem is compounded when administrators allow boundaries to erode.
“We have administrators who are too friendly and have allowed councillors to usurp them.”
Cuff was blunt about how politics has crept into places it does not belong.
“There should be no political parties or special interest groups influencing councillors at the local level. Water and sewer do not have political parties. But councillors behave as if they do. The CAO’s job is to advise council in an apolitical manner so they can make the best decision. The person advising is always to give first-class advice.”
Instead, CAOs are increasingly placed at personal risk.
“CAOs are at the whim of councils who come in with no knowledge of the job. You do what neighbours tell you to do. You have not received good training, and if you did, you did not listen.”
Cuff said public hostility has worsened dramatically.
“Under social media, you can hide, become part of a larger group, and harass CAOs. It gives cowards a sense of protection.”
He said administrators are uniquely vulnerable because they cannot respond publicly.
“Administrators cannot defend themselves. They are legally prohibited.”
In his Governance Zone commentary, Systemic Failures, Cuff wrote that councils across Canada are now contending with “irregular, poor, offensive, degrading behaviour” and warned that consequences for such conduct are rarely sufficient to stop it.
He said extending public input without strict controls is dangerous.
“Public input that gives people more time to talk nonsense is opening a door you cannot close. That is why delegation rules exist.”
Cuff said the financial consequences of governance breakdowns are rarely explained to residents even though they are borne directly by the public purse.
“What is seldom talked about is the cost of firing a CAO to the public purse,” he said. “Hypothetically, if the contract is worth two hundred thousand dollars, you are telling the community we are taking a minimum of two hundred thousand dollars out of public funds plus benefits plus recruitment costs and reputational damage. How many people campaigned for that.”
Those costs are not theoretical. In Alberta, they have repeatedly translated into hundreds of thousands and, in some cases, millions of taxpayer dollars when councils terminate CAO contracts midterm and are forced to pay severance, hire interim leadership and launch new recruitment processes. In Pincher Creek, CAO turnover in 2023 resulted in $420,310 paid for a short-term CAO along with $77,840 for the departing long-term CAO. Lac Ste. Anne County paid $622,860 in severance in a single CAO departure. Lac La Biche County has incurred more than $1 million in cumulative CAO-related costs over multiple transitions. Peace River also faced close to half a million dollars in exposure during its CAO dispute. In each case, those costs were absorbed by municipal taxpayers with no corresponding reduction in services or taxes.
Compensation further complicates the picture. Using municipal assessment rather than population to compare organizational complexity, the Pass Herald reviewed CAO wages across comparable Alberta municipalities. In 2023, the Crowsnest Pass CAO total compensation was $240,753. In the comparison set shown, that places the Crowsnest Pass 12th out of 17 municipalities for CAO compensation and below the comparison average of $245,096. The range in that same comparison runs from $322,658 in Whitecourt at the high end to $195,028 in Jasper at the low end. In a shrinking recruitment pool, lower compensation combined with rising hostility reduces the likelihood of attracting experienced candidates.
Cuff said recruitment costs alone can reach $40,000, or roughly 20 percent of a first-year salary, and that interim arrangements often double those costs.
He said municipalities should adopt a six-month mutual assessment period as standard practice.
“There should be a six-month period for everyone to see if they can work together. If not, you part ways early without destroying the organization.”
These patterns mirror findings from the University of Calgary School of Public Policy report Lonely at the Top: An Examination of the Changing Dynamics for Chief Administrative Officers in Alberta Municipalities, published in 2023. The report found CAO tenure has fallen well below a council term, turnover is rising, and political conflict and harassment are primary drivers of departure, particularly in smaller communities.
Against this backdrop, Councillor Johnson’s motion to release both the CAO and Deputy CAO contracts has raised serious governance concerns. Cuff was unequivocal, “The CAO is the only employee directly hired by council. The Deputy CAO is an employee of the municipality, not council. You can direct the CAO, but you cannot tell them who to hire and fire or how to run the corporation.”
He said councils should expect to receive a dossier including the CAO contract, job description and performance framework, but that these are confidential documents.
Publicizing them, he said, politicizes administration and undermines stability.
Asked what message he most wants citizens and elected officials to understand, Cuff did not hesitate.
“Local government only works wheneveryone understands their role. A good CAO gives first-class advice so council can make the best decision. Without that relationship, municipal government cannot function.”
As council prepares to debate the motion, the issue has become far larger than one contract or one administrator. It now reflects a fundamental question facing municipalities across Alberta: how to preserve governance discipline in an era of rising public hostility, political confusion and diminishing tolerance for professional boundaries.
For Cuff, the solution remains simple but increasingly rare. Understand your role and respect the administrator’s role; without that, nothing else works.