Fragnito named interim CAO, replacing CAO Carbone when he leaves for Kingston

Jeff Green | Jan 12, 2022

(Update - At a council meeting on January 11, Louise Fragnito, the long serving Director of Corporate Services/Treasurer for South Frontenac, was named interim - Chief Administrative Officer for South Frontenac as of February 26. A financial analyst will be hired by the township for a one year term position)

When contacted at the beginning of January, a few days after the township announced that Carbone was leaving, Mayor Ron Vandewal said that one of the issues that Council was going to be considering had to do with this being a municipal election year.

“Recruiting consultants that we have used in the past have told us that it is advantageous to be recruiting for a position like a CAO after a municipal election. Depending on who gets elected, in all of the municipalities across the province, there are senior people looking for a change,” said Vandewal.

“Also, it might be best for a new council in South Frontenac to have a say in how we proceed, since the CAO is the only person who is a direct employee of Council. Everyone else on staff reports to the CAO,” he added.

South Frontenac has replaced their CAO only twice in the last 18 years, when Gord Burns retired in 2009, and again when Wayne Orr retired in 2019. Both retirements were planned a year in advance, the councils of the day hired a consulting firm to provide them with a short list of candidates.

This time around, with only a 6-week window before the departure of Carbone, the appointment of an interim CAO with plans to start recruiting a year from now, once a new council is in place, is being considered.

For his part, Neil Carbone said that he was not expecting to be leaving South Frontenac only 21/2 years after arriving from Prince Edward County, but the opportunity to take on a senior role in Kingston was available to him at this time, and he felt it would be a mistake to wait.

He will be one of four Commissioners reporting to Kingston CAO Laine Hurdle, instead of having the top job in the township. However, he said that there are other opportunities that made him decide to take on the position as the head of Corporate Services in the City.

Not only does Kingston have 6 times the population of South Frontenacs, it is also a single tier municipality that offers a full range of urban services; water and sewer, bus service, social and housing services, a dedicated police force, and more. Carbone also lives in Kingston.

He will start his new job on February 28th.

“I thought there was no sense waiting. I want to get started,” he said.

He said that the Verona Community Master plan will be finished before he leaves, and he expects that the hiring of a design architectural consultant will happen soon after that. His other priority is the 2022 budget, which is being finalised this month.

South Frontenac is in the midst of developing a new Official Plan, which the planning department is spearheading. Carbone said that he will provide some of his insights around the creation of a bylaw to regulate short term rentals, which he worked on at Prince Edward County, to Council and the planning department, before he leaves.

“I will make a presentation to Council about short term rental policy options. They will have to consider enforcement as well, because without that, a bylaw would not be effective.”

He said that under his leadership, “a number of changes have come to the organisation and we’ve got a lot of new skilled, capable faces. We’ve got quite a few initiatives under way and I don’t expect those initiatives will lose momentum.

“As a leadership team, there is a lot of resiliency in the office. They are a pretty capable and highly motivated group, a temporary vacancy or an interim CAO will not change that. It's a pretty good situation for the township and a pretty good situation for the recruitment of my successor. The township’s got a bit of a higher profile than it had before.

Reflecting on his time in South Frontenac, he said that he found the council and staff were very forward thinking and open to new ideas.

“I found that very refreshing. It’s not that anyone was shy about expressing their opinion about proposals, but there was a willingness to consider new ways of doing things. Not all townships are like that.

“I think the future is bright for South Frontenac. There is not a lot of turmoil here. “I found that very refreshing. It’s not that anyone one was shy about expressing their opinion about proposals, but there was a willingness to consider new ways of doing things. Not all townships are like that.

“I think the future is bright for South Frontenac. There is not a lot of turmoil here.”

(Note - this article has been updated from the one that is appearing in the January 13 print edition of the Frontenac News, after the January 11 Council meeting)