I am a frequent visitor to Innisfail, where I have many close friends. Some of those people are feeling a little uneasy, and given the political climate there at the moment, it's not surprising.
I'm speaking specifically to the unusually high level of staff turnover at the town level within the last two years. How does politics enter into this?
Let's start with a comment made by Innisfail's mayor on Oct. 11, in which the CAO, “...doesn't need our permission to hire or fire. She needs our permission to create new positions but to remove a person or discipline a person it is all in her purview.”
My initial reaction to this statement was along the lines of, “Whoa! There's a job where I can do what I want, as long as I sell it right? And I won't be called on my decisions? That sounds awesome!”
While it's sensible that the town council doesn't need to know every little detail of how the town is run, they do not have the luxury of being complacent in blindly following one person's edicts.
The people we vote for to be our spokespersons and advocates for public needs are given the vested duty to serve and protect as public servants should. I see little of that level of protection in Innisfail.
While it may be public policy to allow the CAO this level of authority, it seems there is little done to achieve a balance, or to have safeguards in place for what could be construed as a blatant misuse of power. Investing one person with that level of authority, who may or may not share the same agenda, morals, ethics and values as town council, without questioning decisions, requesting exit interviews, or any apparent level of accountability for the CAO's decisions, seems a dangerous practice.
A healthy organization has a healthy level of collaboration, accountability, and above all, transparency. If there is a high level of staff turnover, this should be a red flag in any organization.
While it's true that people sometimes leave for their own reasons, a well-run organization will always have, at minimum, a clear exit interview process that is completed by an independent third party. This is an excellent opportunity for an organization, and in this case, the town, to gain insights into areas in which they excel, and in which there is room for growth.
Perhaps the time has come for town council to re-examine policies in regards to the CAO role, in order to better support not only Innisfail's citizens, but also to create a culture of transparency, support, integrity and kindness. It may be time for town council to take a good honest look at their collective selves, and to envision Innisfail's community and culture beyond the next election.
Town council only has the CAO to supervise. They need to do so. Town council has 8,000 citizens to serve. It is town council's moral and ethical duty to serve those citizens, and its CAO, well. This can only be accomplished by ensuring their CAO is given a workload that is manageable, a performance appraisal that includes input from the exit interview process, and which allows for his or her growth, in order to ensure the CAO's vision and agenda match those of town council, who are in fact representing their constituents.
Kerry Lowe
Sylvan Lake
