By Cecilia Nasmith
The process to replace retired chief administrative officer Stephen Peacock is going forward, with Cobourg council's motion this week to begin a recruitment process.
In the months since Peacock's September departure, his duties have been assumed by Director of Finance Ian Davey. Continuing this arrangement was one of the options council has considered, but this week's motion settled on the option to direct human-resources staff to administer the selection of an executive-search firm by RFP and recruit a replacement for Peacock.
An estimate of $25,000 to $30,000 plus costs was pre-approved in the 2020 budget for this exercise, which includes a CAO Hiring Committee – consisting of Mayor John Henderson, Deputy Mayor Suzanne Seguin and Councillor Emily Chorley - to assist in the process by working with the recruitment firm to develop a job posting, formulate interview questions and submit a short list of candidates to be interviewed by all members of council.
Councillor Brian Darling asked how Chorley had been selected for the committee, and was told by Henderson that her professional background probably made her the most suitable third member. But he stressed that the actual selection process would belong to all members of council.
“It has been made clear we want all of council to have final input into our future CAO,” the mayor said.
Darling asked how many candidates make up a short list.
“We don't know at this point – that's why we are strongly recommending we go out with a firm and an RFP process,” Henderson said.
“We don't have that answer, because we don't know how many people are going to apply for this position,” Deputy Mayor Suzanne Seguin added.
