Thursday, September 20, 2012

Brian Carruthers resigns as City of WL CAO

Editor's Note - a source within WL City Hall alerted me to this development earlier today but the City has now officially confirmed it... all the best to Mr. Carruthers in his new role with the Regional District of Central Kootenay.  In the meantime, a lot of locals including myself hope that Mayor/Council - City of Williams Lake will take the time to hire the next Administrator of Williams Lake properly, unlike Carruthers appointment in 2009, and have a competition-based hiring process that looks at multiple candidates and selects the best and well qualified one

Courtesy of the City of Williams Lake:

Mayor Kerry Cook and CAO Brian Carruthers announced today that Brian Carruthers is resigning his position as Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Williams Lake. Mr. Carruthers has accepted a position as CAO for the Regional District of Central Kootenay in Nelson and will be assuming his new role as of November 19, 2012.

Carruthers was with the City for two years as Director of Leisure Services, six years as General Manager of Community Services, and for the last three years, has served as CAO. He has made many contributions to the community, ranging from chairing the 2002 Winter Games Committee, establishing Performances in the Park, and beginning the Community Forest project. He was also involved in the master plan and trail development in the River Valley, and the Community Corner project, among other initiatives.

Council wishes to thank Brian for his service and commitment to the organization and the community and wish him well in the future.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hears the mayor's assistant also left recently. So two people who work with the mayor on a regular basis quit within one month. Coincidence? What do you think Steve?

Steve Forseth said...

Thanks for your comment...

If true - this is not good but it could viewed as part of a trend since Kerry Cook assumed the Mayor's chair in late 2008 where City Hall has become a revolving door for City Staff which includes Finance, Bylaw Enforcement and now Administration

Hopefully the City can hire an excellent Administrator in order to promote stability within the Staff ranks

Also - some, at this point, question if severance would be permitted given Mr. Carruthers "resigned" rather than "retired" but this is precedent for this -- former Quesnel City Manager John Stecyk "resigned for personal reasons" and yet Quesnel Council paid him $170,000 for reasons not yet known (and I don't expect those reasons to ever become public).

Stay tuned!

Steve