Doug Barnes, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), announced yesterday that he will officially be retiring from the Town of Caledon on October 30, 2015.
“On behalf of Members of Council and the entire Caledon community, I want to thank Mr. Barnes for serving as Chief Administrative Officer for the past seven years,” said Mayor Allan Thompson. “I’m personally grateful that he stayed on to help me transition into my role as Mayor; I greatly valued his advice and guidance as Councillor and now as Mayor.”
Mr. Barnes has been CAO for Town since 2007. Mr. Barnes retires with 40 years of public administration experience, with diverse experiences in government at both the provincial and municipal level. Throughout his tenure with the Town of Caledon, Mr. Barnes contributed to a vibrant and sustainable community by providing the highest level of professional advice and guidance to Council, and creating an efficient and effective administration.
During his time with the Town of Caledon, Mr. Barnes has had oversight of all aspects of Town operations and capital, led the senior management team and provided strategic guidance to Mayor and Council. This brought about a strengthening of the financial health of the Town, brought accountability and reporting practices across all divisions, and improved on service levels and process, with a focus on Planning and Development. Mr. Barnes’ work sets the stage for further success in customer service and administration.
“Working with each and every Council and staff member has been an enjoyable and personally rewarding experience,” said Doug Barnes. “The Town of Caledon has been a great, vibrant and engaging place to live and work. Thank you for your support during my time here.”
An open recruitment process for the position of CAO at the Town of Caledon will begin immediately.Town of Caledon announces CAO’s Retirement
This key job, the senior civil servant in our municipality, has a large impact on the priorities that our Council debates. Current Council is on average less experienced in public service than the one it replaced, so whomever is chosen to replace Doug Barnes as CAO will have a significant impact at a time of considerable change in our formerly peaceful country town lifestyle. The West GTA Corridor, Caledon’s planning problems with Peel Regional Council, the Places to Grow strategy imposed by the Province, the industrialization of Bolton, the Bolton Heritage Conservation District declaration are just a few of the issues where the new CAO will input significantly on Council’s information base and priority setting.
How do we as municipal citizens and taxpayers input into a hiring process that traditionally has not engaged the public?