Town seeking new CAO to fill permanent position
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Town of Strathmore is seeking a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to fill the position on a full-time, permanent basis.
Town of Strathmore Mayor Pat Fule said although the current acting CAO, Doug Lagore, has been serving exceptionally, it’s time to fill the position with someone for the long term.
“He’s been outstanding, but he (has) never been a permanent solution for our CAO situation. He did step in at a very important time last year and thankfully got us through a lot of the situations that we were in due to COVID-19 and various other things,” said Fule.
The discussion has been on the table for several months now according to Fule. The town has been in discussions with a recruiting firm to make the process easier.
On Sept. 22, the Town held a special council meeting to determine their next course of action to take with the firm. Outside of in-camera discussions, the meeting only lasted a few minutes.
“The motion that came forward was to continue to have the recruiting company, Boyden, continue their efforts on the process,” Fule explained.
He estimates the recruitment process for the new CAO to carry over for the next council to resolve after the October municipal election.
Fule added he hopes to have a new CAO sooner rather than later, but was unable to suggest a timeline for when a permanent employee would fill the position.
“We’ve been interviewing and working with different candidates over the past few weeks and so we’ve narrowed it down a bit,” he said.
Lagore stepped into his current contract position in early August of 2020 following a staffing change for the town, and he was able to “jump right in” during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was appointed by council as Chief Administrative Officer in February, from his interim station. According to the Town, Lagore has served as an advisor on key projects since 2016 and was appointed following James Thackray stepping down from the position.