With Joe Bradbury, the CAO of the Nipissing DSSAB, leaving to take on the same position with the DSSAB in Parry Sound, the replacement process has to begin.
And Mark King, the chair of Nipissing DSSAB, says the search for a new CAO begins this Wednesday.
“It’s not my intent or the board’s intent to allow the position to stay vacant for any length of time,” King said.
“There are a lot of pending issues and things we’re working on and we just can’t lose that grip by extending the (hiring) process.”
With that goal in mind, King says DSSAB won’t use a head-hunter to find a replacement.
He says that responsibility will fall on a special hiring committee formed by DSSAB.
King says the board already knows the knowledge and skill sets it wants from its next CAO.
“One of the things we are concerned about is to make sure that we put someone in the position that actually understands the issues of Northern Ontario,” King said.
“That’s going to be one of the governing factors as we move forward.”
Asked if that means the successful candidate would be from Northern Ontario and King said “that’s very, very possible”.
“We have to have someone who understands it,” he said.
King says the hope is DSSAB has a new CAO within the next four to six weeks.
Bradbury won’t be leaving for Parry Sound until early July, meaning he can help his replacement transition into the new role while he’s still around.