Several staffing changes taking place at Renfrew Town Hall

Renfrew – The Town of Renfrew’s management and staff may be wearing name tags and introducing themselves to each other in a few months as town council recently approved two new job positions and gave the green light to begin the recruitment for a new treasurer, the newly created position of chief administrative officer (CAO) in addition to their current recruitment efforts for a new full-time fire chief.

The approval of the newly created deputy clerk and economic development officer and communications and marketing coordinator took place during the March 22 council meeting as part of clerk Kim Bulmer’s report on the current job vacancies and the reorganization of the senior management team as a result of the arrival of the town’s first CAO.

When Bulmer began his report he said the two new positions would not increase the number of full-time employees or the current budget allocated for staffing.

“We’ve been talking about transitional change and a structural change at the management level, and sometimes change comes about when we least expect it,” he said. “In our case that change came with departure of our longtime deputy clerk. But those roles were filled by existing staff and they are engaged in growing in the organization, but it means shifting the economic development to the dual role of deputy clerk, supported by the new position of communications and marketing coordinator.”

It was announced that Victoria Charboneau will fill the vacancy of deputy clerk and economic development officer and Jenna McEwan will assume the role of communications and marketing coordinator. 

He reminded the elected of the major structural change that is beginning and that the creation of the two new roles will complement the new management style led by an experienced CAO. The town has traditionally had a senior management team approach, with each department head and the clerk providing administrative and policy recommendations to the elected council.

This system includes various elected officials serving on committees that have direct control over the management and administration of all facets of town operations. Under the CAO structure, the CAO would have the final word on the administrative and operation of the town based on the directives issued by council.

This model has the elected officials creating or rejecting policies, and approving the annual operational budget, but they would not be involved in the actual day-to-day hands-on operation of the town. Council gives direction to the CAO and it is the responsibility of the CAO to carry out their directives without council interference.

For the current members of the senior management team (SMT), it is unclear what changes will occur, however, it is common in these undertakings to have one or more current positions eliminated, reclassified or blended into another department resulting in a change of personnel. Council authorized the recruitment of a treasurer and CAO.  When a CAO hired, the individual will work with council to institute the new management structure.

Council was also aware that the current members of the SMT had salaries ranging from $131,000 to $149,000, including the former treasurer, council will more than likely offer a compensation package in excess of $149,000 in order to attract a qualified candidate. It would be highly unlikely council would make a job offer that had the CAO making an annual salary less than one of more of his subordinates.

As Bulmer pointed out in his report to council, the impending approval of the recruitment of the two senior roles will force council to make its decision on the final CAO model in order for staff to make any necessary adjustments and along with the position of treasurer prepare a budget for the vacant positions.

Along with these vacancies, the town has been without a full-time departure of Kevin Welsh, the former fire chief. He cited the town’s 60-year old mandatory retirement policy for all members of the fire department as the primary reason he accepted the position of full-time chief of the St. Thomas Fire Department last October.

In early November of 2021, council approved the appointment of  Mike Guest to the role of acting chief. He still in that role as council continues the recruitment of a permanent fire chief. Along with the search for a chief, the town recently advertised for the position of permanent full-time probationary firefighter following the announcement that a full-time member will be retiring effective July 31.