Prince Township residents push back; council will hear new CAO hiring process in future public meeting (3 photos)

In the early open session minutes of what was intended to be a closed Prince Township council meeting regarding the recruiting strategy for a new township CAO, council members voted unanimously Tuesday evening to defer discussion of the matter to a future public council meeting.

The move came after pushing back from Prince Township residents over the sudden March 16 firing of Mary Lynn Duguay from the CAO post.

“I think that this should be an open meeting,” said Prince Township councillor Eugene Caputo at Tuesday’s meeting.

“We have a lot of our constituents who are ratepayers, that pay taxes in this community. I think that this should be an open meeting,” said Caputo to Peggy Lovelace, who served as clerk for Tuesday’s meeting.

Caputo’s words were met with applause from Prince Township residents who packed council chambers.

“The township right now is in an uproar. I have not slept in two nights. I’ve been getting phone calls and text messages and this is not right. We need to act as a responsible council to everyone in this…we need to revisit this and go back to step one, level headed as mature adults, and take this all back and start all over again,” Caputo said.

“I think that the last CAO did a great job here. I think she ran her staff well. I think the office was doing a great job. We as council are public figures. We are not office people…I don’t think that we have to find a new CAO. I think we had a great one to start with. I think we should rescind what we did and bring it back to another conversation as a council.”

The original resolution for Tuesday’s closed meeting - to establish a recruitment strategy for filling the CAO/Clerk/Treasurer vacancy - was reworded by clerk Lovelace to address the recruitment strategy for a CAO into a public meeting format to be held at a later date.

Lovelace is a director and consultant with E4m - Expertise for Municipalities - a group formed in 2017 that states it assists municipalities through “coaching, targeted custom support and wellness resources.”

“We have to get council to decide when we’re going to sit down and hire a new CAO. It will be an open meeting,” said Ken Lamming, Prince Township mayor, speaking to SooToday after Tuesday’s meeting.

As reported earlier, no reason was given for Duguay’s sudden dismissal. 

“I’m overwhelmed at the support,” Duguay told SooToday Tuesday evening in what was perceived as affirmation of her work as CAO.

In the closed portion of Tuesday’s meeting, Prince Township council received what was described - on the township’s website - as legal advice on a confidential human resource matter.