BOWDEN - James Mason, Bowden's chief administrative officer (CAO) since March 1, 2016, is no longer employed by the town, officials say.
Minutes provided to the Mountain View Publishing during council's July 9 meeting confirm Mason’s departure from the position.
Mason was informed of the decision during a meeting with councillors last week.
Mason said he had a contract with the town that expired in 2019. He said that contract has simply been "shortened" and he's OK with that.
He has been on medical leave since Jan. 12.
Jacqui Molyneux, the town's chief financial officer (CFO), has been acting CAO since then.
During an interview with the Albertan, Mayor Robb Stuart said Molyneux will continue in that role for an indeterminate length of time.
He said council does eventually want to solidify the CAO position, but in the meantime, Molyneux will continue in her acting CAO role while council addresses its number one priority: hiring a public works supervisor to oversee the public works and parks and recreation employees.
"All our public works and parks and rec (employees) are union. We don't think that's in the best interest of the town so we want a non-union supervisor," Stuart said.
"That will relieve a lot of the stress that's on the CAO. Because right now, the CAO does everything -- all the (duties of) CFO (chief financial officer), all the public works, all the parks and rec, bylaw."
Stuart was asked why Mason and council parted ways.
"We did his evaluation and we had some concerns and we spoke to him about it just before he went on sick leave. Then he came back. We had the special hearing and decided that him and the town weren't working in the same direction," he said.
Stuart declined to outline council's concerns with Mason's performance.
"That's classified. That's confidential and part of his evaluation," he said.
Stuart was asked how he feels about Mason's departure; whether they worked well together.
"We've had numerous discussions and -- yeah, I don't -- we never had any out and out battles, but we had some pretty good disagreements. He doesn't answer to me, he answers to council," he said.
Mason said he enjoyed working with the town staff.
"I would say it was the best crew to work with," said Mason. "I mean really, in the years I've been working, I would say it's among the best crews I've worked with."
Stuart confirmed the public works supervisor is a new position.
He said taxes will not have to be raised to cover costs for it because that figure has already been factored into the budget.
Stuart is not sure when the supervisor will be hired. He'd like to see that happen in the fall, but that "depends how many resumes we get."
He said once that person is in place and council gets an idea of how that job meshes with the CAO's, it will be in a better position to define the CAO position and hire someone for it.
He noted before they hired Mason, council considered hiring a part-time CAO who would be shared with another community.
"That fell by the wayside. So that could be something we look at again, though," said Stuart.
Mason, 54, said he'll take it easy for now and likely decide what he wants to do with his working life in the fall.
