Longview’s mayor hopes the slow pace in the Village office continues over the next few weeks while a critical position remains vacant.
Village council voted two-to-one at a special meeting in November to remove Vicky McGonigle from her position as the Village’s chief administrative officer (CAO). Details surrounding the move have not been made public.
Longview Mayor Kathie Wight said the village’s existing staff, along with an interim CAO and an assistant who works for the MD of Foothills, are keeping everything on track in the meantime.
The Village has received 10 resumes for the CAO position so far, said Wight, adding the deadline to apply is Jan. 27.
“We hope to have the new person in place the end of February, March – somewhere in there,” she said.
Wight said what used to be a three-days-a-week position will be bumped up to four days when the new CAO is hired.
“She (McGonigle) requested to go four,” she said, adding it was approved in the 2017 interim budget. “It’s not the village as much as government things like requirements and services that are changing (and require more time).”
Nine people have served in the part-time position since 2005, according to Leslie Fitzgerald, who has held the position three times and is again the interim CAO.
The Village signed a management services contract with the MD of Foothills seven years ago and the last seven people to fill the position have come from the MD, she said.
Wight said the position is often seen as a stepping-stone for those wanting to work full-time in larger centres.
“That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been going through so many,” she said. “It’s a disadvantage because then new people have to learn how we work. Hopefully one of these years we will get somebody that can stay here.”
Fitzgerald was initially hired as the CAO for Longview in 2009 through the MD of Foothills and was transferred to Turner Valley until the Town found a permanent CAO in 2014.
She returned to Longview until she took up a position as the MD’s assessment and tax coordinator.
While still doing her duties as assessment and tax co-ordinator, Fitzgerald is working on tasks relating to the CAO position for the Village until someone is hired.
“I’m available all the time, but only one day a week I’m out there,” she said. “It’s not enough, but it will have to do.”
Fitzgerald said with year-end duties consuming January, Village staff are taking care of most of the accounting functions.
“We are barely able to keep up with one day per week, thanks to the staff out there,” she said. “I’m not doing the job I would like to do just because of time constraints.”
The MD’s community services assistant Johanna Kortenschyl is assisting Fitzgerald with her interim duties, accompanying her to Longview once a week.
“She is helping with anything I need help with,” she said. “There is no way I can do it without her either.”
