WINCHESTER – To those who follow local politics in the Township of North Dundas, the community’s worst kept secret had finally been put to rest with the announcement that North Dundas and CAO Angela Rutley have parted ways.

The statement released Oct. 29 stated that the decision was effective immediately, and that Calvin Pol, Director of Development Services, would assume the role on an interim basis.

On behalf of the council and staff of the Township of North Dundas I wish to thank Angela for her years of dedicated service to our community,” said Mayor Tony Fraser. “We wish her all the best.”

The statement ended by saying that the Township of North Dundas would offer no further comment on this matter at this time.

At the time of printing, no statement had been released by Rutley, who served the township in the capacity of CAO since August 2012.

This matter had apparently been brewing for some time, but it came to the forefront at the regularly scheduled North Dundas Council meeting on Sept. 26, 2024. Rutley had been on medical leave, and in her absence, Ben de Haan, Director of Transportation Services with SDG Counties was filing the role on an interim basis. He was appointed during a closed session of council on Nov. 9, 2023.

Rutley had returned to work shortly before the meeting on Sept. 26, and was present, as was de Haan. During the meeting Deputy Mayor Theresa Bergeron requested several changes to the agenda, apparently to the surprise of Mayor Fraser. It was also revealed, through the course of the meeting that several members of Council had engaged in a discussion without Mayor Fraser and had elected or neglected to inform him of the results or involve him in the discussion.

The changes to the agenda that had been requested by Deputy Mayor Bergeron involved the creation of a 360-degree performance review for the CAO. A policy was not created that night, but council agreed to consider its creation and seek input from SDG, where a similar method of performance review was currently in place.

The most awkward part of the meeting however occurred as members of council thanked de Haan, some almost gushingly, for the way he had improved moral and how staff were going to miss him, all the while Rutley, was seated in front of Council, beside him.

This led to an unusual event on Oct. 10, at the regularly scheduled meeting of Council, Mayor Fraser had just started to call the meeting to order when first Councillor John Lennox, then Deputy Mayor Bergeron, and finally Councillor Gary Annable got up without a word and walked out of the meeting. Mayor Fraser and Councillor Matthew Uhrig, following the procedural bylaw, remained for 30 minutes before cancelling the meeting as there was no longer a quorum.

The three councillors, the Deputy Mayor, and the Mayor were all contacted for a comment. Only Councillor Uhrig and Annable responded, while Mayor Fraser indicated that he would speak at a later date. Councillor Annable stated that it had to do with performance review and staff retention, while Councillor Uhrig stated that he thought that Council’s place was sitting down and discussing things. Councillor Lennox and Deputy Mayor Bergeron did not respond.

Subsequent meetings were held, including two that were closed session, the first on Oct. 22 and the second on Oct. 28. Both agendas indicated that as no other business was being conducted, the meeting would not be streamed. They also both indicated that the meeting was closed “Pursuant to Section 239(2) of the Municipal Act 2001, subsection (d) labour relations of employee negotiations.”

The day following the second meeting was when the statement that The Township of North Dundas and CAO Rutley had “parted ways.”

It was obvious from the meeting on Sept. 26 that many on Council and members of the administration had enjoyed working with Interim CAO de Haan, but there is nothing, at least nothing known publicly that would indicate he is hoping to change his career path with a permanent move to North Dundas. If he were so inclined, he need only walk three blocks north from his present office as the City of Cornwall is currently looking to fill a similar position, having “parted ways” with their CAO Mathieu Fleury, only one year into a five-year agreement.

Based on available information it isn’t possible to determine if parting ways with CAO Rutley was the right thing to do, but it must be the case that a majority of Council members believed so. It does seem, however that there should have been a better, more professional way to cut ties with someone who had been a senior administration member for more than 12 years.