Frontenac County CAO Pay Set To Peak At $157,000

Jeff Green | Nov 14, 2013

We don't know who it will be, but we do know how much they will be paid and when they will be hired. We also know where the consultant, who could be paid as much as $30,000, will be looking.

The search for a replacement for Frontenac County CAO Liz Savill, who will be leaving the county at the end of this week, was at the top of the agenda of a Committee of the Whole meeting in Glenburnie last Wednesday, November 6.

Jim Peaver, from the consulting firm KPMG, was already in the late stages of preparing a service delivery review for the county when he was asked to prioritize his recommendations regarding the CAO position, and to provide a separate report on the hiring process.

The first thing Peaver did was recommend that the current position that Savill holds, that of Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk, be changed.

Peaver recommended hiving off the clerk function and upgrading the position of deputy clerk, currently held by Jeanette Amini, to that of clerk. Since these changes would affect current staff, the discussion over Peaver's proposal took place in an in-camera session.

In terms of the hiring of a new CAO, Peaver said first off that “I have already talked to this council about the ‘one employee’ principle.” Peaver said what “one employee” means is that Council essentially hires only the CAO, and then gives policy direction directly to the CAO on the expectation that the CAO will implement those policies effectively throughout the organisation.

“To that end, the CAO hiring is a crucial task for Council,” he said.

Candidates for the CAO position should be limited, he said, to individuals who have experience as a CAO of a lower-tier municipality such as a township or at the county level. “I do not think you would be looking for someone who is going to be a first time CAO, unless they are already in a major role at a larger institution.”

He also said that priority should be given to someone who is familiar with a two-tier system.

“You need someone who is sensitive to that relationship, who looks upon the lower tiers as a partner in the delivery of municipal services in the County of Frontenac.”

The best way to find such a person, Peaver said, is to hire one of a few consulting firms that are familiar with the terrain, who “understand the municipal environment” in Ontario well enough to narrow down the limited field and approach the right individuals for the job. He even suggested that the right consultants would know the people who are already in leadership roles in Eastern Ontario and vicinity and are ready to make a change.

The timeline that he laid out involved setting out a request for proposal for a consulting firm almost immediately, followed by hiring a firm by the end of the year. The search would commence at the beginning of January, and lead to a long list to be presented to Council, who would then whittle down the names to about six. Interviews would take place in March. A short, short list of three names would then be determined, followed by a second series of interviews, and the final candidate would be brought back for a last interview.

Based on the pay scale in neighbouring counties, Jim Peaver recommended a six-tier pay grid, with increments of 2.5% at each, setting the minimum starting pay at $142,000 and the maximum at about $157,000. Cost of living increases, which average about 2% per year in Frontenac County, will also apply to the CAO.

Councilor John Inglis, from North Frontenac, took issue with the proposed salary. “I adhere to the principle that the highest paid person in an organisation should not make more than six times the pay of the lowest paid, and this would be about eight times what the lowest paid at the county makes. So I’m not sure how I’ll vote on this,” he said.

However, according to the county's human resources specialist, Colleen Hickey, the CAO salary will only be 3.8 times that of the lowest paid non-unionized employee of the township (many of the employees at Fairmount Home and Frontenac Paramedic Services are unionized).

The cost of a consultant, Peaver said, “will likely range from $25,000 to $30,000, plus expenses”.

“Having gone through the process recently when hiring a CAO for Frontenac Islands, I can say the cost is well worth it. It opens up a much broader range of people to choose from,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle.

Council decided to go ahead and search for a hiring consultant, and also to hire KPMG to prepare a request for proposal to that end, at an additional cost of $7,000.

Other items

At their next formal council meeting, on November 21, Council will be setting out a request for proposal for the hiring of a company to complete a strategic plan in the new year.