Greater Sudbury begins search for a new CAO

With the recent dismissal of Ed Archer, a special committee in Greater Sudbury will meet Thursday to decide on the process of hiring a new chief administrative officer.

A staff report said hiring a recruitment firm to assemble a list of candidates would come at an estimated cost of $75,000.

"The mayor (of) the City of Greater Sudbury has been granted strong mayor powers under the Municipal Act, 2001, and among such powers, is the ability to hire or dismiss the CAO," the report said.

"The CAO recruitment committee has been created by the mayor to assist him with all aspects of the hiring process."

The report said the committee has three options for the process: hiring a recruitment firm, handling the search internally, or handling the process internally, then turning to a recruitment firm if the internal process fails.

The report recommends going with an external recruitment firm.

"These firms perform all scheduling, pre-screening, and testing on all applicants to the recruitment process," the report said.

"The larger firms boast about their large databases of candidates who are currently employed but may be passively interested in moving jobs for the right opportunity. They frequently have ongoing relationships with highly talented leaders and can (help) in persuading passive candidates to make a move."

While there is a danger of wasting money if strong internal candidates already exist for the position, the "recruitment committee comes away from the recruitment knowing everything has been done to source the highest quality of candidates."

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The job itself has a base salary of $312,654. The committee will have to decide whether to offer candidates a permanent job – which may improve the quality of the applicants – or a fixed contract, which allows the city to move on from a CAO if they choose at the end of the contract.

The report recommends leaving that detail out of the job posting, to give the city "maximum latitude" to negotiate with a candidate.

The job description of the CAO is also part of the report and includes such requirements as "high tolerance for change and ambiguity" and "emotional intelligence."

The candidate must speak excellent English, with the ability to speak French "highly desirable and a definite asset."

Read the full report here.