BATTLEFORD - The Town of Battleford's new acting CAO plans to leave his CAO duties three months from now, while fulfilling the legislated interim position requirements.
Shawn Sylvester announced his plans at this week's town council meeting.
The interim CAO can be appointed for up to 90 days, according to municipal policy.
Sylvester, who is also the town's finance officer, started his new role as acting CAO recently, since the town's previous CAO, Landon Chambers, departed from the position.
Sylvester has been handling both the CAO duties as well as his finance work. For the next few months he plans to only serve as CAO on council meeting days, so he can spend more time on his finance duties. In the meantime, the town is getting closer to hiring a new person for the CAO position.
"We feel we could have a new CAO before the 90 days are up, so it's more semantics here more than anything," Mayor Ames Leslie said. "But as anyone would know, the finances are more important than somebody sitting in the CAO role, so we are going to push him towards spending more time on the finances, to make sure our finances stay prudent and accurate. We'll pull him in to do the minimal amounts that are required as the CAO role to keep us compliant with policies."
Coun. Alexis Christensen commended Sylvester for stepping into the interim CAO role to assist the town at the last minute after Chambers left.
"I think you've done a really good job," she said. "You've been a great presence here."
