Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Regional District selects a new leader


The selection of John Holland as the new Chief Administrative Officer for the Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District was examined by the Daily News in Tuesday’s edition.

The article also examined some of the outstanding issues of the Regional Government office, including the controversial termination of Janet Beil and increases to their budget to take care of the severance due and for the new workload of the new Administrator and a soon to be hired Operations Manager.

DISTRICT’S NEW CAO LONG ON EXPERIENCE
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Page one


The Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District has hired the former Chief Administrative Officer from the City of Stewart to take the over at the local regional district office.

Barry Pages, chair of the regional district board, said that after a Canada-wide search, the board hired John Holland as the new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District.

“He’s got a lot of experience in municipal government and worked quite a few years in Stewart,” said Pages. “Previous to that, he had experience in Nunavut and the North West Territories working for the municipal government as well as working quite a bit with smaller First Nations communities.”

Holland has an MBA from York University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia.

Holland and his family will relocate to Prince Rupert and he will commence his duties with the Regional District on July 16.

According to the job posting, the salary range for a Chief Administrative Officer will be in the $80,000 to $90,000 per year range and “commensurate with qualifications.”

The regional district is also expected to hire an operations manager. However, Pages said the district is yet to post this position because it was waiting for the new CAO to arrive.

“We wanted to see what qualifications would fit in best with Mr. Holland.”

The district previously posted for the position but was unable to find a qualified candidate.

Tana Lee Hesse has been filling in as the interim CAO and will remain with the regional district until July 13.

The district began seeking a new CAO after it terminated former administrator / planner Janet Beil in what was a controversial decision that split the board. Three directors out of 10 voted against Beil’s termination.

The board has budgeted for the termination which was ‘without cause’ and will result in Beil receiving severance for her 19 years with the regional district. The severance comes for a reserve fund set aside for such instances.

The district included the cost of the new staff in this year’s budget.

Projected audit and legal expenses are expected to increase $87,000 in 2007 (up from 13,067 to $100, 000,) plus an increase in salaries of $100,000 for the new position (from $196,145 in 2006 to $300,000) with staff benefits also doubling (from $26,000 to $54,000.)

The amount of money the district requisitioned from member municipalities – including Prince Rupert, Port Edward, Masset, Port Clements and the village of Queen Charlotte – is up from $180,000 to $266,978. These municipalities in turn ask taxpayers to foot this bill, $86,000.

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